Life is a maze, and love is a riddle
by Bellabear9898
Summary: The prison group has been broken up for months. Fifteen year old Carl literally stumbles upon an old house that is home to the only girl his age he's met since the apocalypse. Jasper is witty, bright, and beautiful, but she had a secret. One that ends in Dixon. Jasper Dixon. Written in second person. Read it, I dare you. Previously titled Okay.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone:) This is my first Walking Dead fan fiction, yay! I do have a lot of stories that I update monthly, and I do not have ANY time for this story, so what do I do? Write it. Obviously.

Anyways though, hope you like it. It takes place after everyone gets separated from the prison. Only some of the main characters will be returning because frankly, it's hard to keep up with them all. Also this story it's written in second person, it's a little hard to get used to at first (when I was writing it, it took me a few days to stop writing me or I), but once you're used to it, it helps you relate better.

I hope you like it:)

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Jasper:

Your ears overflow with their awful moans-hungry for flesh and you were their prey. Whenever one got close your knife slices at their rotting bodies. One grabs onto your shoulder with a single decaying hand and you twist away then stab it in its eye to escape. As you stumble away from the onslaught of the undead, you trip and go tumbling down a hill. You have the insight to cover your head, and that's probably what saves your life.

Once at the bottom of the hill, you stand and gaze back up the incline. One walker clumsily makes it's way down the hill while more stumble towards the peek. You turn and keep running.

The night had that thick wetness to it that said summer was in full swing; the kind of warm weight that clings to your forehead and threatens to overcome you and makes your clothes stick to your skin. It has the kind of thick quiet to it that muffles all other sounds but magnifies the incessant buzzing of insects that just won't leave you alone.

Your worn out red converse clad shoes kick up a mixture of Autumn colored leaves as you run. The rubber of the shoe lets you leap across the trickling creek and take off past the rotting log. Your bronze colored hair whips around your face an you try to tuck it behind your ears without dropping the knife clutched in your hand or slowing your pace.

The trees and land looks familiar to you now, and you know that you are somewhere near your home. It was safe there. Well as safe as it could be.

The moans and groans of the horde behind you grow muffled, a sure sign that you're loosing them. If you could out distance them and stay out of sight for log enough they would forget why they were there and wander off. You spoke from experience.

The edge of the woods come into view, and just beyond that, the weathered white wooden front porch of your two story house. You dash up the front steps and find your way to the rope ladder dangling from the roof. Taking the ladder with both hands, you climb up quickly, pull up the ladder and clamber up the roof until it levels. Along the outside wall of the second floor bedroom, you lean an watch the mindless creatures wander out of the woods.

They couldn't see you up here, again experience let you know that to be true. You look down at the flesh eating creatures and lenses what their minds held before they turned. That one, the one in the torn pencil skirt and collared shirt, has probably been a successful business woman. And that one, in the light blue dress, had probably been a lover or daughter to someone.

You look down at your knees and sigh, the people were gone now with mindless walkers in their places. You steadily climb to your feet and turn away from the outside to slide open the window and step inside. Once the window is closed, and the cold weather is left outside, you shrug off your red varsity jacket. It had been a gift from your older brother and was still a little oversized from being his, but you held it dear to you.

The apocalypse happened shortly after the new school year. Your brother was in his second year at Ohio State. Living in North Carolina, you have no idea where he is, or even if he's still alive. A part of you hopes that he is finding his way home, but you knew that wasn't true. It was wild out there and it was near impossible.

Your mom had believed it though and fretted that he would get himself hurt on the journey. Never get himself killed or changed, but hurt. It had been over two years though. You wish your mother was here now so she could give you a hug and tell you another lie about how things would be alright but she was as distant as the moon. You hadn't had the courage to shoot her when she died from an illness. She was out there somewhere. Dead to the world.

As for your father, he had never been in your life. Your older brother was your half brother, and from your moms previous marriage. And your little sister from a marriage after that.

You were the result of a fling your mother had. She had shown you pictures (they had dated a little), but he didn't even know you existed. You were only fifteen and you were on your own and responsible for your little sister. She was eight and was the product of your mom and another failed marriage. Her name was Alice.

You sigh and cross the room and enter the small bathroom attached to your bedroom. You wash your face on the porcelain sink then look in the mirror above it.

Big brown hardened, determined eyes stare back at you. Swirls of gold integrate and spots of black trail within your colorful orbs. Your mom always said you had beautiful eyes and you had to say that you quite liked them yourself. Bronze colored wavy shoulder length hair forms a mane around your flushes face and you try and comb it back with your hands. It had a mind of its own. You brush your finger across your high cheek bones and the bruise that darkens it. Your lips are full and a light shade of pink. Many people used to call you pretty, and you liked it because who wouldn't, although you didn't care much about beauty, but they thought you were little and cute and couldn't take care of yourself. You hated that.

After a final glance, you turn and exit the bathroom. You've just decided to take a nap when you hear a yell from outside. Grabbing your weapon, you fling open your window and shuffle down the roof until you can see the sight below you.

There were two people amongst the horde of six zombies. They only have knives as weapons and although they wield them well, the odds don't look good.

"Up here!" You shout without thinking much. It wasn't smart, tactical, or seemingly remotely beneficial. But you were lonely beyond second thought.

The two turn to you and you can see their faces now. One of them was an older man, maybe forty years old. He staggers as he moves and it looks like he has a injury of some kind. He look haggard and old despite his youth but that's what the apocalypse did to people after all. The other person was much younger, maybe fifteen. He was strongly build and was pretty tall. Shaggy brown hair fell into his eyes and his lips knit themselves into a line.

The pair turn and the older slashes an arc at two of the approaching dead. More converge at the two and you know that you will have to intervene if you want either of them to make it out of this alive. You slide to the edge of the roof and attempt to make your way down before giving up and jumping the remaining four feet to the ground.

You cringe when pain courses through your ankles but you stand straight. A walker comes at you and you sidestep it, turn and duck under a swipe, then slash off it head before running to help the two men. You push one back with your sword and knock down another before driving your sword into its head.

"Come on!" You shout and nod to the role added swaying in the wind. You lead them towards your escape. you fight off a walker as the older one struggles to climb up the ladder and the younger one stands on defense with you.

The man is now almost at the top of the ladder and you nod to let the other person go ahead. You fend off some of the walkers and run around to the porch where you continue to fight off the growing horde. When the younger guy is halfway up the ladder, the old one slips as he tries to climb onto the roof. The younger one tries to grab him but begins to fall.

From the ledge of the railing, you shout "It's too late, go!"

The rope ladder is torn and makes it hit against the house violently. The boy hits his head and almost falls. You launch yourself onto the ladder and manage to hold you and him onto it. Once you've gotten you both onto the roof you try to tune out the sound on ripping flesh.

You look over at the boy beside you. He was knocked out and upon closer inspection, you see dark blood matting his dark hair. He's so tall that his legs almost dangle off the roof. He's lanky but strong and has high cheek bones and a strong jawline.

His dark jeans and torn button down shirt were moist and smelled foul like he had been a sewer or something. His eyes flutter in his sleep and he keeps biting his light pink lips. You decide that you don't want to be alone anymore, you would ask him to stay here.

You manage to pull his dead weight inside your window where you lay him on your carpet while you go to wash up. As you return to your bedroom, you bring a large glass of ice cold water. You smirk to yourself before tipping the glass slowly at first, then all at once.

"Gahh!" He shouts as he bolts upright.

You can't wipe the smirk off your face as you look at his confused face. "Oh good you're up" you say as you sit down in your desk chair facing him while still snickering.

He blinks hard, probably trying to get rid of the nausea. "You're that girl" he states finally "the one with the machete sword."

You shrug and pull out your weapon. "It's actually a paper cutter" you correct holding up the weapon "I managed to pry it off the cutting board. Works pretty well."

"Yeah, yeah it does" he agrees as he pulls himself to his feet and means against the bed frame. "I'm Carl" he introduces himself, holding out his hand for you to shake. A small smile plays in his lips and his eyes look at you as if he can see down to your soul.

You reach forward and shake his hand firmly once before speaking. "Jasper" you introduce yourself in a clear, slightly suspicious voice.

"Jasper?" He asks "never heard that one before."

You nod and manage a smile. "Yeah, I'm the original" you say smirking.

He smiles. "I like it. So you live here? Anyone else here?" He asks looking around as if someone were hiding from him.

"Yeah, my little sister Alice, she's sleeping in her room. Lived here since I was a kid." You tell him "'bout you? What's your story?"

He shrugs. "I was at a prison" he starts"

Your eyes sparkle and you cross your hands under your head and grin sarcastically. "Ooh story time" you mutter sarcastically.

He chuckles "Very funny" he says dryly.

"That's why you laughed" you say smirking smugly.

He smiles then continues. "My dad, sister and a bunch of other people were there, we made it safe. Neighboring town attacked and we all got separated. I was on my own for a long time and I met Jack yesterday, did he..." He trails off.

You nod somberly. "I'm sorry." He smiles sadly. It's clear that he felt bad, but he didn't know the man that died very well, he maybe had even just met him. "Are you bit?" You ask looking up at him.

He yanks up his sleeves and then pant legs. "Nope" he says popping the 'p'.

"Okay good, are you hurt? Do you need food or a change of clothes, my brother has some that might fit you." You say.

His brow creases. "No, I really shouldn't take your things. You've already saved me, I don't want to owe you more than I already do. I'll go" he says glancing out the window.

"You really don't have to" You interject hopelessly. "I have more than enough supplies, it's been just me and Alice for two years...could you stay for a bit maybe? I promise I don't bite."

He smiles, and by the look of it he hasn't for a while. He has dimples that don't go well with his grimy face and clothes, but they're cute all the same. "Thank you. Can I sit?" He asks nodding to a wooden chest at the foot of your bed. You. I'd and he sits down. "So who are you Jasper?"

"Okay um. I'm fifteen, sixteen in a few weeks. I don't know my dad, mom's dead, brother's missing. My little sisters in the other room sleeping-Oh and my hamster Pickles is horribly depressed, it's a Tragedy" You say cracking a smile.

"Who names a hamster Pickles?" He asks bursting into laughter. His laugh was contagiously happy, and filled the dreary cold with warmth. You can't help but join in.

"I was eleven!" You protest "Sorry for lacking creativity!"

He suppresses his laughter. "It's not okay" he deadpans but he's smiling.

You smile back and shrug. "So what's it like out there?" You ask. You had been out for days on end sometimes but never for longer than a week.

"Walkers everywhere, buildings are falling apart and people aren't much better than the walkers" he says.

Wow. "Damn. I guess I'm lucky that this place has always held up against 'em." You say.

"Yeah, how did you manage that?" He asks "what'd you do when it all went down?"

"Oh um" you glance down "Well after a while my mom and I moved to the top floor and barricaded the stairs. We moved all the food and supplies to the guest room and only exited from the ladder that knocked up out. Smart, by the way" you smirk "We have a well, a generator and a little garden under the back deck."

"Damn" he remarks.

You nod in agreement. "Yeah, my mom was kind of paranoid for whatever apocalypse was coming. She thought it would be government collapse but it holds for both. We also had our whole basement filled with food, supplies and weapons. It's because of her that I'm alive." You say smiling sadly. You missed her erratic ways and overjoyed grins. She was gone though. Just gone.

"Can I meet your little sister?" Carl asks.

You nod. "Yeah sure, c'mon" you say rising to your feet and walking towards the door.

You slowly open the door right beside yours and peer in. There, wrapped in a light blue blanket and hugging her turtle stuffed animal Shelly, was your little sister Alice. You see that's she's awake, turned towards the wall.

"Alice?" You whisper questioningly. The little light blonde haired girl rolls over, her light green eyes widening as she looks at the stranger beside you.

"Who's that?" She asks sitting up and leaning away.

You walk in and sit on the edge of her bed with Carl standing beside you. "Don't worry, he alright. This is Carl" you say reassuringly.

"Hi Alice" Carl says smiling at your sister

Her eyes waver from him to you, calculating cautiously. She climbs on top of the covers and half smiles. "Hello Carl" she replies.

"Carl's going to stay here for a bit" you tell her.

"He smells bad" Alice says plainly.

You laugh then turn to Carl with an apologetic look on you face but it shatters into another laugh. "She's right you know" you say truthfully "There's a bucket of water in the bathroom. Go. I'll find you some new clothes."

This time he doesn't argue, and he goes to the bathroom. You smile at your sister then leave her room and go to your brothers. It was fairly empty since he had moved to go to college, but some old clothes of his remained. Your mom always meant to sell them, but then the apocalypse hit and eBay became a little less popular.

You find him a pair of jeans like he was wearing before, and a black v neck tee shirt. You knock at the bathroom door once, then else the clothes and go to the guest room where you search for a meal of the three of you. You decide on a can of spaghetti O's, a can of peaches, and a can of green beans.

Back in your room, you pull out the small smoke chimney and light a fire with a match. You watch the quivering flame as it grows, it was fascinating to you. You open the cans and edge the can of spaghetti and beans near the fire to warm. You open the window and fan out some of the smoke. You sit back down on the floor before the fire and watch the flame until Alice and Carl show up.

"What's for lunch?" Alice asks then turns to Carl. "You smell better, but still not good" she remarks.

You laugh again. "Green beans, spaghetti O's, and peaches" you tell her.

"Three things? Awesome" Alice says smiling. You usually only had two cans for dinner and shared them, but now with three and Carl looking really worn and hungry...you could spare a can of spaghetti O's. You use tongs to pull the hot cans out of the fire. You pour them onto a plate and the divide the food among three plates. The food's gone within a minute.

"You can sleep in my brothers room I guess" you say glancing out your open door and into your brothers empty room.

"Not yet!" Alice exclaims "I have to interview him first!"

Carl cracks a small smile.. "Ask away" he says as he leans back against your bed tiredly. You wanted to stop her so he could get some rest but there was no stopping the little monster.

"Ok then...what's your favorite color? Favorite food? How many friends do you have? Girlfriends?" She speed asks (You narrow your eyes at her when she asks about girlfriends. Talk about awkward). "If you could have any job then what would you do? What super power?"

Carl laughs awkwardly. "Okay.. Um green, chocolate cake with buttercream icing, not sure, none, scuba diver, and the power to control fire." He says grinning as he answers all the questions.

"Nice job" You mutter to him.

He turns to me. "Ok then...what's your favorite color? Favorite food? How many friends do you have? Boyfriends?" He speed asks like Alice just did word for word. "If you could have any job then what would you do? What super power?"

You laugh. "Okay here we go. Light green, pears, three, none, teacher, and ability to control the weather" You shoot back with a grin.

"Very good" he applauds. You grin at him smugly.

You all talk for an hour, and it only takes Alice ten minutes to beg to go on your trampoline out back. It was in the fenced in backyard so it was pretty safe but you always kept a weapon on you in case. It takes all you can to convince her to not run out there right now. She settles for a promise about going out there tomorrow. You finally get Alice to bed after an hour of convincing, threatening and begging. You return to your room and collapse beside the fire.

Carl chuckles. "Is it always that hard?" He asks.

"Ha, that's funny. She was on her best behavior tonight. Usually I have to threaten her with nukes to get her to bed" you say groaning into your arms that cross over your head.

"You're weird, you know that right?" He asks. You sit up and quirk your eyebrows. "I mean you're just different from other people, like you don't live in hell. What's wrong with you?"

You laugh. "I'm not sure...everyone has their own theory" you say smiling at you look at the fire.

His eyes crinkle but then his face grows serious. "Do you have a plan? You know if you if if you have to leave?" He asks.

"Oh" you say, your face forming into a line. "Well my moms car is in the garage, full if gas and there's extra. I've stored all the food in backpacks and we both have getaway packs. Other than that no."

"If I were you I'd go south. The prison is down there somewhere and there's a lot of good people you might run into" he tells you.

You smile. "I'll keep that in mind. Hey anyways though, um, how is your head?" You ask.

He feels around the back of his head as if he just remembered the injury. "Oh ow, okay how'd I forget about that?"

"My presence obviously" you joke with a smirk. "You loom like you're going to pass out. Take the guest room at the end of the hall."

"Obviously" he repeats humorously. "Again, thanks for letting me stay here."

"Nah, It's no trouble" you respond smiling slightly "goodnight Carl."

"G'night Jasper" he replies with a grin before ducking out of the room.

You sleep well that night. Curled up in your soft blankets and warm bed. You actually find yourself excited for morning. Tomorrow you would eat the last of the food that want stored in a backpack and go on the trampoline with Alice and Carl. God, you sounded like such a child. But you didn't care.

Everything was okay.

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So how'd you like it? I'm dying because I have an awesome twist planned and it kills me to not tell you! So anyways please leave a review, it takes hours to write and only seconds to review. Thanks for reading.

~Bellabear~


	2. Chapter 2

___Hi everyone! I'm glad you like it and thank you for my review! I really love writing this story so if more people reviewed that would make me so happy! Anyways here is one of the big twists! I hope you like it!_

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Jasper POV:

When you finally do wake, your face is buried into your crossed arms. You grin into them, glad it was finally morning. You hear a shuffling and you raise your head and peer around the room.

"Carl?" You ask groggily when you see the shaggy dark haired boy leaving your room.

"Oh sorry, I was getting my gun. It fell out last night. I didn't mean to wake you" he says edging closer.

You begrudgingly sit up and rub your face with your hands. "Nah, it's fine. Alice up?" You ask.

"Ha, she's been running around for hours. I've barely kept her from waking you." He says leaning against the for frame.

You climb out of the bed. You feel a little strange with a boy in your bedroom as you slept and now talking to him while in just a tank top and shorty shorts.

"Your hair is weird" Carl says plainly. Well thanks Mr. Sheriffs hat. Yesterday he calls you beautiful and now he says that your hair is weird. You partially believe he was sent here to mess with your emotions.

You scoff. "Yeah well I just woke up" you tell him slightly annoyed.

"No, not that. I mean your hair isn't dirty blonde, or however they say it, it's like bronze" he says. You feel your cheeks burn. No guy had ever been so complimenting towards you before. He made your heart quicken it's rhythmic pounding.

"Uh thanks" you say, instantly wanting kill yourself for such a lame response.

He grins at your partially flustered face then walks out, calling over his shoulder to meet them at the trampoline. You dress quickly in a pair of dark skinny (but really comfortable) jeans, a plain black crop top (not the half shirt kind), your red letterman jacket and pair off hunting boots. Then you go out to meet them.

Alice and Carl are bouncing on the trampoline giggling like idiots. You had to admit to yourself that you liked this guy. He was attractive, funny, witty, really sweet and nice. Not that you'd ever admit it to him though.

You watch the two of them with an occasional eye roll and a smirk. Eventually Alice and Carl convince you to come into it and you might have done a flip or two to impress him. Might.

After a While though, you hear more than one moan of the undead and you decide to bring them inside. You hangout a little and repackage things more efficiently for a quick getaway via Carl's instruction.

Later around one o'clock in the afternoon, you hear the familiar rumble of a car engine. Alarmed, you move to the front windows and peer out to see a black van pull into your drive way. You're about to get your weapon, when a familiar guy gets out the car.

You dash to your room, then down the ladder and to the car and the person. Surveying the area, there aren't any walkers about. It doesn't mean one isn't hiding or there aren't any coming soon, so you grip your knife tightly.

You approach the sandy haired guy with a big grin. The car looked to be packed to the brim with supplies. "Joe" you greet smiling. It was your sisters father.

"Jasper!" He exclaims rushing over and hugging you tightly. "How are you? How's your sister, mom?" He asks frantically. He must have been dying to know how they were. Pun intended.

You pull away. You sigh deeply and glance at the ground. "Alice's fine, mom's...dead." You reveal sullenly. You embrace yourself for pity, the single thing you hated most of all.

"Oh, I'm so sorry-" he starts but it cut off by Alice's cry of "Daddy!" The little girl runs across the yard and launches herself into his arms. You can't help but grin. Carl rushes out half a step behind Alice and visibly relaxes when he sees that you're all alright.

After a minute, you lead him inside and you all sit around the little fireplace talking. Jow had brought food and supplies so you feast on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and twinkles. This makes you feel like the luckiest person in to world. As you talk though, you notice that there is something on his mind, but you can't figure it out.

Finally Joe sighs, outs down his food and looks at you pointedly. "Jasper" he says "I've gotten passes to a safe town along the way. I have two."

You grin which slowly turns into a sad smile as you look at Alice. You take in her short blonde hair, green eyes that look at you innocently, and her shocked expression. She was only eight. "Take her" you say.

Joe looks at you shocked. It was obivious that he expected a different reaction from you. "I-I was going to give them to you and Alice" he says.

"She needs you. Take her, keep her safe" you say plainly as you stare down Joe, daring him to protest.

"But Jasper!" Alice protests flinging herself towards you. Your resolve almost crumbles right then and there, she was so little and she loved and wanted t be with you. But you couldn't if you wanted her to be safe. Safe for real. She could have a normal life, have a parent. Safe.

You catch her and move her so she's sitting beside you. "Hey, calm down, it's okay" you whisper to her then turn back to Joe. "We don't know what's out there at the camp and your the one with the supplies. You'll take care of her. She can have a normal life. She needs her dad."

"Jasper, please just think about-" Joe begins to plead. You glare at him again, a threat to try and protest again. You weren't changing your mind.

You cut him off. "I have. Don't argue. You should leave soon so you can find a place to camp before dark" you say.

"Jasper-" Alice starts pleadingly.

"Go" you respond, your voice hard. She pouts and looks like she is holding back tears but obeys and goes to her room to collect her things. After repeatedly thanking you, Joe offers to help her pack and you nod numbly, letting him go.

This was what was best for her, and you too. You would have more supplies and-you'd miss her terribly. But that's what you had to do.

An hour of kisses, promises and hugs later, you were alone. Your dad was never known to you other than a picture, your mom was dead, your brother had been gone since the beginning with only a small chance of being alive, and your little sister just left. Your were the last one. It was just you, Alice had even taken Pickles, your hamster, with her.

"I'm sorry" Carl says leaning in the doorway of your bedroom as you pick up the remainder of dinner. Your jaw was stiff, your face void of emotions and your feeling pushed back so far that you didn't know if you could ever feel again.

"Don't be" you reply monotone "she's safer this way."

He nods."So what's your plan now?" He asks.

Right, it was up to you now. You didn't have to do what was best for everyone or not do what you wanted. It may be selfish, but you can finally do what you want. You were free.

You look up at him, eyes wide. "The prison you told me about. Let's go there. Find your friends and family, restore it. We can do it" you propose, your eyes determined.

"It's huge" he says looking at you like you were insane "there's only us two. It took way more before to only partially clear it out."

"Then we sleep in the guard towers" you say almost pleadingly. "Work on securing the fences. We can drive cars to the fence to secure it. Don't look at me like I'm crazy, I already know I am."

He cracks a smile the grows serious again. "We can't get cars" he says "can't start 'em and almost all of them don't have gas."

You grin now. "He'll yeah we can. I can hot wire a car in under three minutes. I can run it for twenty miles on just the fumes. Know how to make a bomb too, we can set it off somewhere far from the prison and attract them away" you say almost begging. "We can find your dad and sister. We can do it."

"Okay" he says quietly looking at the floor deep in thought.

Wait what? Did he- "Okay?!" You ask excitedly.

He grins and nods. "Okay" he confirms.

You pack everything into your car that night. All your food, your emergency packs and pictures of your family. You leave a note behind to your brother, or sister if she returns saying where we went.

He told you that the prison was about two days of walking from here, so it would probably be a few hours to drive there. You rigged together a collection of alcohol moistened rags, matches and gun power and planned to set it off at a far neighbors empty house just before driving the hell out of there.

You gaze around your room for a final time. You had lived her for sixteen years, but no longer. Your vision is clouded by the explosion as you drive away with Carl by your side.

As you drive you come to a realization. People you cared about kept disappearing. You had never know your dad, but he was gone either all the sand. You mom was dead, or undead, also gone. Your brother had been missing for over two years, gone. You sister was taken away to a safe place but still, gone. People you cared about left.

You had learned your lesson, don't get close to people. Survive, yes, but get close, no. Don't make yourself hurt more than you had to. Safe yourself. Survive.

Knocking you out of your reverie, a frantic yelling causes you to press down slowly on the break pedal. "What's that?" You ask peering out the window.

Carl turns to look and whoops when he sees two dirty people appear out of the woods. He climbs out of the now stopped car and runs towards them. It was a girl that seemed to be a big older than you with light blonde hair and an older man with long dark hair.

You climb out of the car but just stand there. They're talking and you feel a little strange, so you take your paper cutter (you decide to call it a machete from now on to save your modesty) and go take care of two walkers that have gotten a little too close for comfort.

"And who's this?" The girl asks as the group approaches you, now back from dealing with the walkers. I now see a little blonde haired baby in Carl's arms an he is grinning like someone had just told him the apocalypse was all a bad dream. This must be his sister.

"Is that...Judith?" You ask hesitantly peering at the cute little child who was trying to steal Carl's sheriffs hat with her chubby toddler hands.

"It is" the girl answers smiling. "I suppose you know about all that then?" She asks and you nod. "Ok well I'm Beth" she says holding out her hand for you to shake.

You shake it back and smile hesitantly. "Jasper." You say looking up at the man behind her.

"Oh this is Daryl" she says with a smile. "He isn't particularly talkative" he adds with a little laugh.

"Jasper" he nods once briskly. That's all you got. You look out beyond where almost ten walkers were shuffling towards you. "Yeah, unless you want to be ripped apart, I suggest we stop the whole family reunion" you say gruffly.

Carl sits in the passenger seat like before while Daryl and Beth make room in the back while you hold off the walkers. Daryl walks over to help you, but you've already ducked under one, knocked it into another and stabbed them both through. "I got it" you grumble before returning I the car with him behind you.

"So where are we going?" Beth asks from the back seat. Carl was still glowing as he held Judith in his arms.

"The prison. We're clearing it back out, sleeping in the guard tower for now and hot wiring cars for extra fence support" you explain.

"Is there some apocalypse survival summer camp? Who the hell taught ya to hot wire a car?" Daryl asks, talking for the longest you've ever heard him speak.

"Something I learned before the apocalypse" you say with a smirk.

"Well did ya learn 'bout how many damn walkers'll be there?" He asks sounding annoyed.

You smirk again. "Something else I've learned before the apocalypse. I set off a bomb a couple hours back, they're all going there" you reply sounding bored.

"Carl where the hell'd ya find this girl?" He asks the boy beside me.

He grins and shrugs. "I could ask you the same question" he says.

"I took her from her carrier when the fighting broke out" Beth says "I tried to find you or your dad after that but Daryl made us go."

"I saved your life" he replies gruffly.

He turns to him and allows a small smile to grace her features. "I never said you didn't" she responds then quickly says "turn left here!"

You comply and in the distance you see the large grey walls and broken barbed wire fence of the prison. You survey the area as you slow to a stop in the large field before the mighty structure. The outer double fence was open, as well as the inside gate. There were only about thirty walkers milling about, easy pickings. The bomb had worked, they had all gone there. Parking the car where it's obscured by debris, you all start towards the dead, weapons ready.

"Don't get trapped in the middle!" You shout as a reminder to Daryl and Carl. Beth had stayed in he car with Judith.

You take the outer edge, also defending the car partly. Daryl went to the front corner and started shooting walkers down with his crossbow. He was a pretty good shot. Carl, not as good since you said guns wouldn't be a good idea, was fighting of the dead with a knife Beth had given him.

Finding not much action towards he back, you start coaxing the biters into open range and Daryl shot them down easily. You're thankful that you took of your jacket in the car or it would be ruined by the blood. You look towards the middle, and see Carl fighting to move out of the large circle that had begun so surround him. You nod to Daryl who immediately starts taking out the circle of dead, and you run towards Carl.

You strike down two walkers but see that it wasn't helping, there were too many around Carl. Fighting of one more, you slide under two and come up back to back with Carl. You knock down one that was too close and push one into three others. There were only seven left, and Daryl was taking down the ones farther from you.

Carl blocks and kills a walker about to bite your leg, and you return the favor by throwing your knife into a particularly stubborn one that wouldn't give up. When the crowd is reduced to three, Carl grabs you around your waist and swings you behind him to get another while he takes out the two in front of him, making your heart crawl into your throat before attacking the onslaught. You throw knives and soon it's over.

"Nice" Carl complements you as he turns away from the fallen walker. You nod briskly, your cheeks sill partially flushed from when he picked you up a moment ago.

"It's get'n dark" Daryl says as he approaches you both. "Let's get your crap into the guard tower" his eyes skim over you both, or more specifically your blood coated clothing "you might wanna get washed up too."

The guard tower wasn't very big. Just inside the heavy set door was a small bit of space, as much as walk in closet, and then stairs wound upwards. At the top, there was a fifteen by fifteen room, with a yard thick balcony surrounding it. It was filled with old broken remainders of what would be in a watch tower.

You set up your bed in the corner, halfway under a desk. All your other bags were still packed, with just your sleeping bag out. Carl spreads out a bedroll in the corner parallel from you, and the other two bunk down in the middle. The baby was cradled on a big pillow and was asleep.

"Sorry, but I'm not letting y'all sleep in here like that" Beth says nodding to Carl and your bloodied clothing. "It ain't dark yet and it won't be for an hour. There's a creek half a mile out. Get going."

You both nod obediently and collect your weapons before leaving. You don't talk much on the way to the creek and Carl doesn't either. Twigs snap under Carl's feet and he kicks up fallen leaves as he walks. Your tread is different, without thinking you avoid anything that would make noise. It was a survival tactic you'd have to teach him.

Once you hear the trickling of the creek Carl stops and nods to you. "Go ahead, I'll stay back and keep watch" he says.

You muster a thankful smile, and head off towards the creek. Thankfully it's obscured by thick bushes and you know Carl won't try to look at you, he was too nice, so you're safe, well in that area.

Behind the cover of bushes, you strip off your blood soaked clothing and wash it in the water before hanging it to dry. You let yourself submerge in the freezing water and you can feel the blood and dirt come off you before you even scrub it away.

You get out not a moment later, and dry yourself with a small towel you had stored in the pack you brought. You then dress back in the same bra and underwear, but a loose grey tank top and a pair of comfy dark jeans. You slip your machete into your belt along with a few knives, and your gun. Only one bullet rested in it now. It was your last option bullet.

You stuff the rest of your things into your bag, pull your wet hair into a pony and go find Carl. The cold air bites at your still moist body and you shiver. It was getting darker by the moment. When you find Carl he's sitting on a stump, tapping his gun against his knee in a rhythm.

"That's 'I won't give up' isn't it?" You ask referring to the best he was tapping.

Carl turns and cracks a smile as you approach. "Yeah, you know it? It used to be one of my favorites." He says.

"I sung it at a elementary school talent show once" you say snorting at the memory.

"Will you sing it for me?" He asks and you give him a look. "Oh come on, please?"

You sigh a little too loudly. "Fine" you grumble. You shift your eyes upward and bite your lip as you try and remember the lyrics. They come back to you quickly. "When I look into your eyes, it's like watching the night sky, or a beautiful sunrise. There's so much they hold." You have to glance away from Carl's grin to keep from messing up.

"And just like them old stars. See that you've come so far, to be right where you are. How old is your soul?" You sing. You may have continued in singing after your elementary school performance and could've won a few dozen awards.

"But I won't give up, on, us. Even if the skies, get, rough. I'm giving you all, my, love. I'm still looking up." You crack a smile. "Ok that's all, it's getting dark.

"But the best part is coming up!" He protests. You roll your eyes and make him go get washed off. When he is back, his dark hair dripping wet. It's kind of adorable.

"Will you sing more now?" He asks as several moans chorus from back somewhere behind you. Walkers were coming and you did not want to be trapped in the dark woods with the dead after you.

"Can't sing while I'm runnin'" you say grabbing your bag and running off with Carl at your heels. Noise be damned, you crunch every twig, leaf and vine you come to. You finally return to the compound, and carefully take out three walkers that are in the field without getting ourselves dirty.

"Much better" Beth remarks as you both walk in. She was playing with a giggling Judith in the middle of the room. Carl smiled at his sister and joined Beth playing with her while you sit on your sleeping bag.

"Uh..Beth, I have some extra clothes that would probably fit you. You can have 'em" you offer trying to be less anti-social.

She smiles sweetly. "Really? You don't have to." She says with her sweet country accent. Damn why did this girl have to be so nice?

You shrug and duck your head. "Nah it's fine, I have more than enough." You tell her honestly, you did bring four extra sets of clothes just in case.

She looks touched beyond belief. "Really? Wow, thank you Jasper" she says smiling. You smile in response and sort through your bag, pulling out a fitted purple top and yet another pair of jeans. You toss them to her.

"Thank you so much, this is great. I'm goin' to go change in the stairwell, no one go out there" she says before excitedly dashing out of the room. You kneel over to Judith and gently pull her onto your lap. You bounce her up and down a little on your knee and she giggles. You have to fight down a smile.

"It's okay to like her you know" Carl says from near you. He had been watching you play with the little girl.

You clench your jaw because no, it was not okay to like her. Liking people lead to loving them, and then they were taken from you one way or another. You couldn't go through that again. Survival.

Beth comes up now, all grins as she models her new clothes. "Whatcha think?" She asks as she spins in a circle then giggles.

"I like 'em" Carl says nodding.

"Me too" you add on.

Beth grins again the sits down, thanks me again, and passes out on her bedroll and Carl isn't far behind her. You rock Judith to sleep the lay her in her pillow crib. Cradled into your sleeping bag, you watch the silhouette of Daryl fiddling with his crossbow.

"Better not be pointed at me" you say just loud enough for him to hear. He grumbles something intelligible. "What was that redneck?" You ask with just an edge of humor.

"Now listen here girl. Yer a witty one, but you ain't no more, not to me. Now why don' ya shut up, ya little pest" he snaps then looks over at me.

His eyes grow larger as he sees you laughing. Big scary hillbilly was used to intimidating people, well instead he made a little girl laugh. How'd he like that? By the looks of it, not very much.

"You laughin'?" He asks gruffly. You have to hold back another round of laughter.

You snort. "Wow, you are a smart one" you say with a grin. He grumbles something then turns around. "Night Daryl" you say triumphantly before rolling over.

"Night pest" you hear him number from behind you. It sounded a little less venomous and a little more affectionate. Big scary hillbilly, yeah right.

Your hand riffles through your backpack pocket on search of a picture. Your fingers land on the waxy paper if the photograph. It take you a moment for your eyes to adjust in the dim light, but you can finally focus on the people in the picture.

The first person in the picture is your mother. Her blonde hair is pulled into a lose pony tail and she is grinning into the camera. Laugh lines gather on her cheeks and around her eyes and her brown eyes sparkle. Beside her stands your father. Short but shaggy brown hair frames his face and pale blue eyes have a daring troublesome look. A shadow of a beard colors his tan skin. A small smirk pulls up the corner of his pale pink lips. Your dad.

Daryl Dixon.

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_BUM BUM BUM BAAA! Anyone see that coming? I'll update after three reviews? It's that good? Oh and Carl is a little OOC but he is hard to work with when he's always all mopey. Plus he isn't the main character, so he might be like this sometimes and with a girl, boys will act iLife anything. So 3 reviews, and an update._

_Thanks for reading!_

_~Bellabear~_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello everyone! I'm glad you like this story because I really love writing it. With my other stories though, I keep going back and forth between first and second person, and it messes me up all the time, even in my thoughts sometimes. I'll think 'You didn't like this person, she was mean to you' Or something like that! It's so weird but so worth it though. I hope you like it!_

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There is a brief moment when you first wake up, where you have no memories. A blissful blank state. A happy emptiness. But that moment doesn't last long. Reality hits you hard and you realize where you are and what has happened and you become the victim of a swirling hurricane of thoughts.

It sucks.

That morning, as soft dawn light seeps into the windowed watch tower, you rise. Everyone else is still asleep, Beth, Carl, and...your father. You think back to when you first saw him, emerging from the woods, with a girl and a baby. He was coated in a layer of grime and an ever present scowl.

He looked different from the picture though, well it was over sixteen years ago. He looked younger, happier. There was no question though, this man before you was him. Your father.

You weren't sure if you liked him, or if he liked you. You had spoken last night and he had been grumpy and mean, but you were good at reading people and it was just another layer of protection against being hurt. Just like you.

Under his layers and facades, you could see someone that you actually might like. Just maybe.

Back to the game plan. We were trying to get the rest of the people that once inhabited the prison back here. Seeing that the others wouldn't wake up for a while, you climb to your feet, grab your weapons and leave the guard tower.

You take out four widespread walkers that roamed the prison front. You walk about twenty minutes out until you find the railroad. You find one of the old railroad time boards and look around for some kind of paint. A single groan has your mind spinning with new yet gruesome ideas. You end the walker's life and with the tip of your knife, you write on the sign.

It reads:_ Rick's group, go back to our old camp. -Carl, Beth, Daryl and Judith._

It didn't flow well and it wasn't exact either but you couldn't advertise the prison to stragglers. But the addition of Judith's name to the note will probably bring Carl's dad running. Probably anyone else in the group as well. You didn't add your name because they wouldn't know you.

You clean off your knife then start the trek back to the prison. As you come upon the clearing you see Carl moving towards woods you were sheltered in. You're taken aback and remain sheltered by a tree in case anything was wrong. He marches past you, not even seeing you hidden alongside the tree.

"Carl!" you say loudly, trying to stop his stormed march away. He spins around wildly, and his face relaxes.

"Jasper, where did you go?" He asks as he comes over to you.

You brow creases in confusion. "Just getting some air" you say "what's going on?"

"I-we didn't know where you were" he says "Beth saw you leave real early, but it's been almost an hour."

You shrug. "Sorry, I went for a walk" you say walking towards the prison. You would let them have a surprise when people showed up.

"Okay, well we're going to try to clear out the C-block today, and maybe the B-block too. There may not be many in there because we cleared it out a while ago. We could even move in there today, maybe tomorrow" he says.

Before you can respond, Daryl exits the watchtower. "I see you've found the pest" he says shrugging his crossbow over his shoulder. He stumbles a little and you smirk, he was either drunk or drinking.

"And I've seen you've found a bottle" you shoot back. He turns to you and throws you a halfhearted glare before turning. You can still see one corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk.

Carl leans over to you and whispers "Is he smiling?" He asks like it was an impossibility.

You choke back a laugh. "I think so" you say with a smirk.

"Let's go!" He shouts over his shoulder. You and Carl both grab your weapons a little tighter and jog after him. "Were gunna do this the easy way. You two start workin' on fixin' the fence and makin' enough noise to draw 'em out. I'll take care of 'em but stand ready" Daryl explains.

You both nod. You follow after Daryl anyways and stand a few feet begin him as he yanks open the steel door. There's a small scuffle inside and Daryl nods to you. "I got this kid" he says moving farther out to intercept the few walkers.

"Ah, so I've upgraded from pest to kid now" you say with a smirk as you turn and walk off. Daryl sends another halfhearted glare in your direction before turning back to the door.

When you join Carl, he's got a board propped up against the caved in fence, and is lifting it back into position. You jog over to help him, and together you push it back to its original form just to have it fall back. "This isn't going to work. We need cars to keep it standing." You say with a sigh.

He looks towards he fence hopefully then sighs. "Yeah you're right. Someone's gotta have Daryl's back though." He replies casting a glance at the redneck who pulls a walkers body to the side.

"I can go by myself" you point out like it was obvious. Well it was.

He shakes his head. "Hell no" he says.

You roll your eyes and put your hand on your hip. God, you've been on your own for weeks at a time before. You could handle yourself. "Why the hell not? I've been on my own before, I'm the one that can hot wire cars. I'll be fine" you say sounding annoyed.

"You never go out alone, that's the number one rule" he says looking down at you.

You smirk and swing around him, leaning casually against the edge of the bent gate. "I've never been good with rules though" you say before turning an jogging away.

"Jasper!" Carl yells after you.

"Where's she goin'?" Daryl asks approaching Carl.

"Getting cars to support the fence" he tells him. "I'm going to go with her. Don't go in there, stay in the tower and get the ones that come out" you can feel his eyes trained on your retreating figure "don't do anything unsafe, I'm going now."

He snorts. "Good luck" he says sarcastically then walks away muttering something about teenagers.

He chases after you now, and you groan in annoyance. Last time you have checked, you saved his life, not the other way around.

"I don't need protection" you snap when he catches up with you.

He holds out his hands in surrender. "Hey, chill out. It's dangerous out there, I'm just trying to watch out for you" he says.

You pull your hair into a quick pony tail as you march towards the forest with Carl on your tail. "I don't need to be watched out for, especially when it will slow us down" you reply, still angry.

"We need everyone to do this, I'm not going to let you run out there and get yourself killed cause you want to be independent" he shoots back angrily.

You turn to him. "This isn't about what I want, it's about what needs to be done to make the prison safe. But if you want to follow me like a little puppy and slow us all down then be my guest" you snap.

He clenches his jaw and glares. Even being four inches taller than him, you never felt intimidated by him. Until now. "Fine" he growls "just do us a favor and don't get yourself killed."

"That rule I can follow" you call as Carl turns and walks back.

You let out a frustrated sigh and spin in your heal before taking off into the forest. The bomb you set off before really worked, because there isn't a walker in sight.

You peer up at the canopy above you, leaves blow in the wind and let bright gray light shine through and into the dark forest. It reminds you of a poem your mom once read you when you were a little girl. 'The woods were lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.' You can't quite remember the name of the poem, but you remember the author: Robert Frost.

It was weird how the poem relates so well to your situation right now. The woods were exactly so, I did tell Carl I would be back alive, and I did have miles to walk before I could sleep. Huh.

Leaves crumple under your feet as you walk, and while stuck in a daze you find that you've walked almost seven miles. You turn left, and come across the main road. A walker that had been trailing clumsily for the last mile becomes your paint and your knife becomes your paintbrush as you paint another sign for going to the prison. You've only written Daryl and Carl's names when you are alerted to someone behind you.

A gun cocks behind your head. You stand quickly and and spin so you're about three feet from your attacker. There was an older man, and behind him a younger asian guy and a pretty younger woman with short brown hair that stands closely by his side. The main guy doesn't look like he's eager to shoot but he doesn't let the gun waver. He looks at you, waiting for you to speak. You don't.

"Why are you writing that?" He asks angrily "Who are you?" You glare back at him. "I don't want to shoot, but I will. Talk" he growls in a thick southern accent.

With one swift kick, you knock the gun out of his hands and it spirals into the air. He is too shocked to respond so you grab the gun out of the air and point it at him with both hands.

"I don't want to shoot, but I will. Talk" you repeat flashing a sarcastic smile.

"Hey now, calm down. Put down the gun and we can talk" he says soothingly.

You chuckle. "Oh so it's like that when I have the gun? Fine, you two first" you wait until the other two toss their guns aside then you chuck the gun into the woods. It falls only a couple feet in.

The man glares into the forest and mumbles something. "Alright. I'm Rick, that's Glen and Maggie. Now what are you doing writing that? Who are you?" He asks calmly.

Your eyes scan over the area. "You're Rick? Glen and Maggie?" they nod. Carl's dad and the married two he mentioned. It worked. You raise a hand in a wave. "Jasper. I'm trying to- it's the truth. I'm with your old group."

All their eyes go wide, but Rick's the widest. "It's real? You're with Carl, and Daryl?" He asks incredulously.

You nod. "And Beth-" you start but am cut of by Maggie's gasp of shock. Didn't Carl say something about Beth having an older sister that she was separated from? They must've only seen what you were writing and not the other sign.

"Beth's alive? She okay?" Maggie asks hopefully pulling away from Glen and coming forward to where Rick was.

You nod. "She fine. I promise. So is-" you look up at Rick's hopeful but grim expression. "So is Judith."

Rick's mouth parts slightly and he looks like he's in pain almost. "Don't lie about this." Maggie says to you sternly "you promise, with your life?"

"I promise. Judith's just stared talking, Daryl hates everyone, Carl still wears that stupid hat and Beth is sweet as ever. There, you have proof. We were at the prison, were trying to restore it. I'm getting cars to drive back to strengthen the fence." You tell them "That's why I was writing the signs. I didn't tell the others about 'em though. It's a surprise."

Maggie grins, come forward and throws her arms around you, hugging you. You stand there awkwardly and halfheartedly pat her back. "Thank you" she murmurs then pulls away.

"Uh yeah so, there are some cars down there, we got to get 'em to the prison, everyone take one?" You ask peering down the hill to the cluster of old cars.

They all nod and you and everyone else head down the hill together. Glen ends up in an old pickup truck, Rick in a large van, Maggie in a mini van and you in a Volvo. You're grinning as you lead the procession of Carl's family and friends back down the short road to the prison.

Carl, who was hitting some dents out of the chain link fence, looks up, his eyes wide. Daryl had seemingly finished clearing out the C-block and was now staring at you. Beth, who was bouncing Judith in her arms outside, breathes out a gasp. You all pull the cars right along the fence evenly spaced and climb out as Daryl pulls the gates open.

"I followed the rule" you say to Carl with a smirk as you watch Rick run to him and hug him tightly.

You can't help the grin on your face as Rick slowly approaches Judith and Beth sets her in Rick's arms. A few tears roll down his cheeks. Beth shrieks and dashes towards her sister who hugs her back ferociously. You fade into the background and end up near Daryl, both of you observing.

"Got the C-Block cleared out?" You ask him.

"And the B-block too" he says.

Your brow creases. "Really?" You ask "Is it in good shape, the cells and everything?"

"Three of 'em are brokn', the walls between. Needs some cleanin' but it's good other than that" he says then as an afterthought "-kid."

You smirk then walk away towards Rick, Carl and Judith. Rick looks up from Judith "Thank you Jasper" he says sincerely "And I'm sorry about before."

"What happened before?" Carl asks.

Rick chuckles. "I pointed a gun at her just to have her kick it straight outta my hands. Didn't even see it comin'" he says.

You half smile. "Sure no problem. She's a cutie ain't she?" You ask playing with Judith's little one year old hand. "Can you say Jasper?" You ask the child with a smile.

"Ja, Jas, Jazzer" she tries and scowls. You and everyone else chuckles. Jazzzbrr." She frowns again "Jazzyyy. Jazz." She decides, looking proud of herself.

You laugh and Carl and Rick join in. "Okay, good job Judith. I'll be Jazz" you say and Judith grins and claps her little hands together.

"Okay, now what about Carl?" You try. All eyes were on the little girl now.

Her brow knits together and she frowns as she tries to concentrate. "Ka, Car Carlll, Carrrlll, Carl" she says and her eyes light up and she giggles.

"Good girl" you praise. "Last one, can you say daddy?"

She makes another face. "Da, Daddwy, Daddyy, Da-ddy" she declares with another giggle.

"Good girl Judith" Rick says with a glowing smile. "You're my little girl" he says bouncing her.

"I'm going to go check out the cells" you say heading off towards the prison.

Rick nods and Carl turns away from him. "I'll come with you" he says and you throw him a warning glare. He was doing the overprotective thing again and he just realized it by the way he pulled back a little.

"Come on" you mutter relenting as you walk away. He follows after you, a little more cautious now.

Once you reach the door, you push it open, the squeaking piercing your ears. You walk into a large gray room, cells line one wall, on the ground and on the second floor. Five cells in each level. Shattered glass and broken walls lay on the floor, and two of the bottom cells' walls are busted through and one on the top. A set of stairs connects the top to the bottom and four large glassless windows line up against the wall.

You come to the conclusion that this place seriously needs some color. Forget the real threat of the walkers, the lifelessness of this place could take several lives itself. You make it a point to raid a paint store or at least a Kids R Us to find some watercolor paint at the very least.

Maybe you could go on a run sometime soon and pick up a few things. Then while the others were clearing out the rest of the prison and you were watching Judith (because Beth had started working on a schedule), you could fix it up and make it nice. That would be nice for them right? It would make them happy, but it wouldn't make this place special to you. This wouldn't be your home. Don't get attached.

You climb up the stairs and look around in wonder as Carl stands below and watches you with a tiny half smile. You run your hand along the concrete walls and step over the chunks of fallen material on the ground. You peer into the cell with the broken wall and notice that the outside walls of both were intact and it almost looked like a tiny bedroom.

"The guard tower might get a little crowded with eight people" Carl calls up to you as he locks a metal gate that led on to the rest of the prison. "Think we could clear this place out a little for tonight? It'll be safe if we keep the gates closed."

You kick a chunk of concrete over the balcony. It clatters to the floor and the sound echoes throughout the prison. "Yeah sure, and technically it's seven people and a baby." You point out.

"Technically" he says in a horribly imitation of your voice "You're a dork."

You join in with his laughter. "Technically you're an idiot" you say sliding down the remaining fifteen steps on the railing and land on the ground perfectly. You grin.

"You're a bigger pain than the walkers Jasper" he says with a smirk as he kicks a chunk of concrete towards you.

You stop it with your foot. "Oh stop it, you're making me blush" you say sarcastically before kicking the concrete piece back at him.

"Oh come on, you know you love hanging out with me, fighting for our lives, fighting each other, fighting for each other. Fun isn't is?" he jokes.

You laugh. "Oh yes, like eating glass" you say as throw a grape sized piece of concrete at Carl and laugh when it hits him on the side of the head.

He rubs his head faking how much it really hurt. "You're it" you say with a sly smirk.

His face grows determined and he fakes left then runs after you from the right. You laugh and run up the stairs and around the edge, taunting him as you dangle your arms down to the stairwell where he was trying to reach you. While you're distracted he runs after you, and you're only a few steps ahead of him.

He reaches forward and tries to grab you around the waist, and finally on the third try, he succeeds. "Carl!" you shriek with laughter as he spins you around. "Carl, there are stairs" you manage to say but it's too late. You slip and go sliding down the stairs. You're not hurt and judging by his laughter he isn't either.

"You really are an idiot" you say climbing wobbly to your feet. He snorts and you both manage to climb to your feet unharmed.

Still somewhat dizzy, you almost fall into him but he catches you. You're about to burst into another fit of laughter when you see his face. He looks serious but had a small smile etched across his face. This is what happened in movies before the guy kissed the girl.

Oh freaking crap. It was drastic action time. You stumble again, this time a fake one, and end up sitting or half lying on the stairs. "I think I have a concussion, I actually thought I didn't hate you for a minute" you chuckle.

He laughs too then sits down beside you and lies back on the stairs. "Okay ow, this isn't a good bed" he says sitting back up.

"Really idiot?" You ask sarcastically as you climb to your feet. "We should clean out two of the cells and move the bunk beds in there for tonight" you propose "Judith, Beth, Maggie and Glen should stay in the guard tower tonight. It'll keep Judith safe and I doubt Beth will leave her. Maggie'll want to be with Beth and Glen with Maggie."

"Okay...it's a little weird that you know everyone so well already" he says slowly as he eyes you suspiciously.

You shrug. "I'm just good at reading people I guess" you say as you start kicking fragments out of a cell.

"Creepily so. But so that means my dad, me, Daryl, and you would be in here. Have fun trying to convince my dad and Glen of that. Maggie and Beth too. You're going to end up at their little guard tower sleepover one way or another"he says cracking a smile as he helps you clear out the floor.

You stop what you're doing and give him a weird look. "I never thought I would hear guard tower and sleepover in the same sentence" you say.

He snorts. "Well I never thought I would be cleaning out a prison cell with a smart ass" he jokes back.

"Lucky you" you say smirking.

Before he can respond, a grinning Beth appears in what's left of the doorway. "Jasper, there you are" she says happily.

Maggie appears beside her, wearing the same excited grin and sparkling eyes. You slowly lean towards Carl and loudly whisper "Carful, they can sense your fear."

They all laugh, the sound echoes around the prison. "Jasper come with us, let Carl and the other boys clean up in here. You're almost done anyways. Were having a sleepover in the tower." Beth explains happily.

"Just girls" Maggie adds and throws a playful glare at Carl. "No boys allowed" she says grinning slyly.

"And why's that?" Carl asks with a smile as he fake pouts. It seemed like Carl and Maggie had a aunt and nephew kind of relationship. It was really sweet.

"Because you're a boy. And boys have cooties" Maggie says sticking her tongue out at him "not even Glen's coming. Come on Jasper" she says pulling me out of the cell.

Carl watches you be pulled away with an used grin. "I called it! Have fun!" He calls jokingly.

"Not likely!" You shout back before the door closed and you're pulled into the night.

Only ten minutes later, you're dressed in just a tee shirt of yours and a pair of underwear, like Maggie and Beth. You were sitting in a circle and whispering to each other to not wake Judith who was asleep in the corner. You decide you really like Maggie, maybe more than Beth. She was funny and sweet like Beth but she was louder and more alive.

"Okay, truth or dare time" Maggie says flopping down onto her sleeping bag. You and Beth copy her action. "Jasper, truth or dare?" She asks.

You purse your lips as you think. It had been forever since you had played this game. "Truth" you decide.

The sisters sigh together. "Lame but fine" Maggie says "okay...have you ever been kissed? Like not by family or somthin' like that."

"That would be a no" you reply.

Their mouths drop open. "What?" Bet asks. "A pretty girl like you? What are you, sixteen?"

"Fifteen, sixteen sometime soon I think. And thank you but most guys were idiots at my old school. Others couldn't get a clue or liked other people." You respond. "Okay Beth, truth or dare?"

"Why dare of course" she says clutching her pillow to her chest.

"Hmm. Okay I dare you to do an imitation of Daryl" you dare with a sly grin.

She giggles an straightens, preparing do act. "I saved your life" she says in a grouchy country voice "nah that ain't no good. Babies just cry all the damn time. Where the hell'd this girl come from?"

She can't continue and you all burst into laughter. You were lucky Judith was a deep sleeper. "Okay Maggie truth or dare?" Beth asks.

"Truth" she says with a smile.

Beth barely hesitates before springing forward with her question. "Are you and Glen ever havin' any kids?" She asks hopefully.

Maggie bites her lip and light link blush spreads across her cheeks. "Um well, it's not a good place or time or anythin' for kids but..." She looks at our faces "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my god Maggie!" Beth gasps "I'm going to be an aunt!"

"I felt strange so Glen and I found a Walgreens and unless four positive tests lie, I'm pregnant." She says.

You smile. "Maggie you're happy about his right? It'll be fine you know. Everyhting will be fine, we can find a doctor in under nine months. And Judith will have a friend" you say.

She smiles slowly. "You really think so?" She asks hopefully. You nod truthfully. "Thanks. Ok so...names? You girls have any ideas?"

"If it's a girl, Carrie, Alison, Jade?" Beth suggest excitedly. "And if it's a boy, Mason maybe, or Riley?"

Maggie smiles. "I like all the girl names, and I like Mason too. What about you Jasper?" She asks you.

"I like Alison and Jade, but maybe you could make Jade her middle name? Alison Jade Rhee? Carl told me your new last name. You could call her AJ." You suggest.

"Oh that's good" Maggie says "I think I'm pretty far along, I'm showing barely, mostly I just look a little fuller, but that really only means one thing nowadays. Glen knows by the way."

You smile at the thought of them together. Carl said that they were married. "You two are really good together" you tell her honestly.

"So are you and Carl" Maggie says with a laugh.

"What!?" You shout but you can feel the redness creeping up your neck and settling on your cheeks.

"We both knew Carl before all this went down and we got split up and he was quiet and serious. Now he's laughin' and smilin' all the time" Beth says "it's you."

You roll your eyes at them. "For all you know, he found Atlantis while you were separated" you say.

They sigh collectively. "Ahh denial, the first stage" Beth says. Although I'm annoyed, I crack a smile. Beth came more alive when her sister was around.

"Oh shut up" you say with a blush, for once without a comeback. It was because of Carl, you tell yourself. You and him were just friends and it was weird to think of him like that. Or, wait, did you? Oh crap. The girls continue to giggle like idiots. "Okay, reality check. Were in the zombie apocalypse. Let's get some sleep" you say. Anything to stop the embarrassment.

"Fine Jazzy" Maggie's says giggling and turning out the lantern. "Night girls."

"Night" you chorus back.

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Did you like it? Pretty please leave a review and tell me what you think, and if some people are a little too OOC, because i know that they are a little, it's hard to make much of a story when they're continuously mopey. So just let me know your thoughts on that. Also if you review, you can suggest a baby name for Maggie and Glen's baby! Boy and girl names please, I'm not telling what it'll be!

I will update after a secret number of reviews. Hint! The number is even, between one and fourteen, is one of my favorite numbers, can be divided by two and get a whole number, and it's three. You're welcome for wasting your time. ;)

This chapter alone is almost 5000 words, and it took me a really long time to write so:

Remember it takes hours to write and only seconds to review.

~Bellabear~


	4. Chapter 4

Hi! Quick update! I actually wrote two chapters then decided this needed to be added in (it was originally a really long chapter-7000'words, but I split it into two). But I wrote this today on my iPhone during school and a little yesterday and I just (when writing on my iPhone, I have to put the words into an email then save it as a draft and then look at it on my computer) it it into doc manager and it was SO many words. I freaked out.

Anyways though here is the next chapter (which I edited while in my kingdom-my bed with Taco Bell), I hope you like it.

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Daryl:

"We need more diapers" Maggie announced as she stepped out of the cleared out cell they were keeping Judith in. "The ones she got are worn to rags an' she's going to need a 'em for at least another few months."

You look up from the table. You slide your arrow across your knife deftly before putting it back into your quiver. Beth was writing in her notebook leaning against the wall, Carl was on watch with Rick and Jasper was sketching something on the table.

"It's about midday, I'll go" Glen offers standing up from the table.

"I'm goin'. I'm gettin' out of this place" you state, almost daring anyone to argue. No one does. You throw your crossbow onto your back as you stand up.

Jasper stands too. "I'm coming" she says the same way you said it. It wasn't a question. She looks around the room "Someone else should stay" she says seeing that both you and Glen were going to be absent leaving Maggie, Beth, Judith and Carl here with only Rick.

It wasn't fair but it was like it was in the olden days, the women needed a man around for protection. You didn't like it much but with most girls that is what had to happen. Not for Jasper though, you had noticed, she was a fighter and she did alright.  
Maggie might be able to protect herself as well but she might not be able to defend them all.

Glen looks uneasy but he sighs. "I'll stay" he relents sitting back down.

"Get your crap girl, were leavin'" you command Jasper.

Jasper hurries upstairs and you set outside and start up the car. You're disappointed that you can't ride your bike but you had to bring back supplies and he bike wasn't much for that. Jasper comes out, now wearing a pair of red shoes and a leather jacket and wielding her weapon and climbs into the passenger seat. Carl, who was on watch, shoots you a glance that says 'be careful' as he closes the gate behind you.

You drive in silence for a few minutes. "How long have you been with Rick's group?" Jasper asks finally.

You shrug and make a turn onto a main road. "Three years" you reply looking ahead.

"Long time" she remarks.

You nod. "Yeah" you say.

She groans and turns to look at you. "You really ain't much for conversation" she says annoyed.

"Yeah well you ain't much for bein' a kid. Always takin' care of lil' ass kicker or patrollin'" you say gruffly.

Her eyes widen. "Are you telling me to stop helping the group and go play tag somewhere out of trouble?" She asks incredulously.

"I ain't sayin' nothin' like that. I'm just sayin' that you're actin' like one of us and you're just a kid" you reply.

Her brow creases in confusion. "What do you mean? I have to act like one of you, I am one of you. I'm fifteen and Carl's fifteen too. An' Beth's only eighteen, just barely" she says defiantly.

"Carl's getin' close to sixteen. I'm just sayin' kid, that you're different alright? You ain't winey and weak like them other kids that've come in here" you explain gruffly.

She narrows her eyes. "Was that a complement?" She asks.

"Naw you just happen to not be specifically insulted" you specify.

"You've got your story, I've got mine. See ya in court." She says with a smirk then turns forward again.

You laugh once. A real laugh. "So how'd ya end up here?" You ask a little more friendly.

"It was just me and my sister at my house. It was safe. My mom got us lots of supplies so we were okay. I hunted most of the time though or used snares." She explains.

"What happened to your folks?" You ask quietly. There was no more 'what about your parents?' or 'are they still alive?'. If someone wasn't with you they were usually dead.

"My dad, I never knew him" she says glancing out the window. "My mom... well she got sick. Turned one day. I locked my sister and I in my room then went out the window and guided her outside so I wouldn't have to kill her. She wandered off but still liked to show up every so often."

"I'm sorry" you reply honestly keeping your eyes ahead.

She smiles sadly. "But then Carl and some other guy showed up. He died, there were a lot of walkers after them, and Carl was knocked out so I brought him in. I fixed 'em up. My half sister left with her dad for a safe house he had passes for later the next day and we decided to leave" she explains "'bout you, what's your story?"

You're kind of taken aback by how calmly he tells you her story. It isn't the worst story sure, but when a someone talked about their mom dying and hanging around to try and eat them...well you've had adults get choked up at that.

You shrug. "I didn't have family beside my brother Merle. We went round' together huntin' and scavengin' He turned a while back I had to kill 'em. I've been with this group since before then." You explain.

"Sorry." You drive into a town and down a main deserted street. "Hey Daryl?" She asks.

You see a fairly intact Walmart up ahead and pull in front of it. "What?" You ask.

"Grace Dare. That was my mother. You knew her. I met you when I was a kid, 'round six remember?" She asks looking up at you as you park the car.

Your brow creases as you recalls the memory. "Yah, I knew Gracie. I remember now, lil' Jaz" you say smirking at her and the memory "I had a feelin'. Jasper's a rare name, and you look a lot like your mom. How 'bout that" you muse.

You remember being back in town and stopping by Gracie's house. The two of you used to be best friends then went out for a little bit before you moved away. Her son was ten and she was six. You remember her, the little girl that kept sassing you. She was a funny little thing.

"Thanks" she says with a small sad smile as she looks back ahead.

"What happened to your brother?" You ask hesitantly. She didn't mention him and you wanted to know what happened. If he was dead though you feel like you jut made it worse.

She pauses. "He was a college in Ohio when it started. We don't know what happened to him" she reveals.

"The last Dare standing" you mutter as the two of you climb out of the car.

You clutch your crossbow in front of you and Jasper does the same with her machete. No walkers were around but that didn't mean anything. The doors to the store had been barricaded with lockdown screens and who knows what else  
but there was no movement inside. Looking up, you see second floor windows.

"The power is still on in there so there's a security system on. That means loud sirens which won't be good." She says walking over to a fenced in electric area. She messes with a control panel.

"What are ya doin'?" You ask curiously as you approach her.

As shrugs and pries off the plastic cover. "I used to be alright at this" she says.

"Damn. Can you hack in there and turn if off?" You ask her becoming seriously impressed.

She scoffs and laughs. "It has a five pin tumbler system, single circuit alarm, child's play" she says amused as she pulls out some colored wires.

You have to laugh at this strange girl. "Okay done" she says climbing back over the fence and standing beside you.

"How'd ya learn to do that?" You ask curiously.

She shrugs. "That's for me to know and you to be impressed by" she says smirking as she looks up at the slanted roof fifteen feet up. "I can get up there" Jasper says a moment later looking up as well, scaling the walls and ways to get up there.

You look at her doubtfully. "Like hell you can" you say.

She smirks, her whole aurora screaming 'challenge accepted'. She walks around to the side of the store, climbs up on top of a pickup truck and looks thoughtfully at the heating box.

"God" you grumble but you're amused.

She stops what she's doing and smirks down at you. "I'm an atheist" she deadpans. You laugh again.

She carefully steps on the gate she just jumped, and uses her arms to put weight on the heating box, then stretches out a leg and pulls herself on top of it. From there she grabs hold to the rocky wall and inches four feet over a thirty foot drop. Damn this kid had balls.

She successfully launches herself onto the slanted store front roof area and inches her way up to the windows. She peers inside then steps to the side and slams the butt of her knife into the window. The glass shatters and rains down the roofing as she pulls herself out if the way. She looks inside again and whistles. A snarl comes from inside and before you can call out, a walker lands a couple feet from you, it's head splattering.

Looking up, you see her grab another walker by the shoulder and yank it forward so it slides down the roof and hits the pavement. Dead. She whistles again the. nods to you, there were no more in that room.

"What are ya going to do now?" You call up to the fifteen year old who carefully balances on the roof.

She gives you a weird look. "Going in?" She says like it was obvious.

"Like hell you are! There's gotta be tons a walkers in there." You call up.

She rolls her eyes and leans against the windowsill. "Do you have another idea?" She asks.

You look back at the strongly chained front doors and windows. There was no way in hell that you be able to get in that way. You could ram the car maybe but that could mess up the car. You could climb up the way she did but that didn't look likely.

"You'll die in there" You shout back up at her just to dodge another falling walker body.

She smirks. "Will I?" She asks raising her eyebrows questioningly. You scowl up at her, making your feeling on the subject clear. "I'll just make it to the main floor, open the security barriers, and you can come in" she says.

"An' if ya die while ya doin' that?" You ask eying her.

"Oh come on Daryl, I'll take it slow, one floor at a time. If they come after me then I'll just climb back out the window. They'll all slide down." She says shrugging.

You shake your head. "Naw, no. C'mon we'll find another place" you say.

She holds her ground. "Like hell I'm not. It was damn hard gettin' up here. I'm goin'" she says before ducking into the window and out of sight.

Damn. You strain your neck to look through the window but it's too dark in there. There's nothing you can do, you're not superman, you can't break through the walls. You anxiously wait to see her, and almost call out to her but don't. Although you wish she didn't go, you like how she acted. Didn't care and did what she wanted as long as it was good for others. Kind of like you.

It's been almost ten minutes. No major sounds had been heard from the inside aside from some moans and crashing. You were growing seriously worried.

"Jasper!" You shout, your worry seeping into your voice.

More crashing, more moans. Your body moves forward towards the sealed entrance on pure instinct but you pull back knowing that you couldn't get in. "Jasper!" You shout again.

Suddenly the window a few down shatters. Jasper must have opened the screen on the inside and broken it. You run to it and look inside. Corpses liter the ground. Four walkers are almost on Jasper and she's cutting at them but they're all savage with hunger. You jump in through the window and run over to her.

Throwing off the first walker, you push away another and bury your knife in a third. Jasper knocks down another and stabs it in the head. You shoot an arrow at another one and Jasper takes off the head of the one that was right behind you.

Her hair was tucked into her black leather jacket and blood splatters her face. More blood drips from the edge of her shirt and her jeans are half soaked in it. She breathes heavily and glares at some of the dead walkers. Instead of looking frightened like other kids would, she looks calm and determined.

Your eyes widen and you take a small step back. There was so much blood. "Jasper-" you start slowly and hesitantly.

"It's not mine" she interrupts as she cleans off her blade. "Hell of a lot of walkers in here" and says catching her breath.

"Not bit are ya?" You ask.

She shakes her head. "No. I'd be gone by now if I was" she replies.

You pause a moment. "How many were there?" You ask curiously.

"Don't know, fifteen maybe? They were spread out so it wasn't that bad" She says straightening and of tightening her grip on her weapon while keeping her back against one of the shelves while more moaning comes from the back of the store.

You do the same and move so the arrow pointed down the isle the walkers were coming from. Your eyes widen when you see ten of them coming and coming fast. You shoot once, twice, but now they're too close.

"C'mon girl, we gotta get to better ground" you say figuring she would know what you meant. It was too dark and cluttered in here to fight off that many.

She follows you then stops short. "Wait, we gotta hide. I have an idea, just do it" she says pulling you behind lineup of old shopping carts. You have no choice but to crouch beside her as the walkers stagger into view. They come in you direction and you reach for your crossbow but Jasper beats you to it.

You look at her quizzically. "Trust me, I got it" she says and you allow her to take the crossbow.

She lifts it up and points it in an entirely different direction than the walkers that were even closer now. This goes against everything you've lived but and you barely keep yourself from snatching away the bow. She has it pointed at an old vending machine and she lets the arrow fly. It hits the control panel area and the machine sparks then cans start rapidly coming out of the machine. The walkers hear the noise and shuffle towards the machine that is still going off.

She nods to you and hands you back the crossbow. She takes her knife and slices through the two closest while you shoot at the farther ones. Within a minute they're all dead. Keeping her machete in hand she starts skimming the shelves.

"Adda girl" you say apraisingly as you look around the store. "How'd ya think of that?" You ask.

She shrugs. "Figured since the electricity was on it would work. Just a more advanced version of throwing a rock to lead 'em away."

"Hey look at this" she says a moment later with a smile evident in her voice. You walk over and look at what she's holding. She has in her hands a jar of peanut butter, Frosted Flakes, and a bottle of grape soda.

You chuckle. "That's a real nice breakfast."

"Hey, this isn't a meal!" Jasper protests with a laugh "just some things I like but separately...except for that one week I was home alone."

You snort and walk over to inspect some other shelves. There was a hell of a lot of food here you wonder if there was-

"Aw hell yeah" you say as your hand falls on at six pack of beer.

"What?" Jasper asks from the end of the isle where she was looking through bags of chips.

You don't answer, just slide down to the ground and open one of them. Jasper huffs and walks over to you as you take a sip.

"Damn" you remark before drinking half the can. It was warm and old but it was beer.

Jasper sits beside you. "Can I try it?" She asks seemingly unembarrassed.

"Why the hell not" you say handing her the can and cracking open another one.

She smells it. "I've always liked the smell" she confesses before taking a sip. She stops drinking a moment later and looks at the can. You look at her expectantly. She shrugs "it's alright" she says taking another sip.

You chuckle and drink some of your new one. "That's all you get" you say nodding to can you have.

"Why?" She replies defensively.

You snort. "Because you're fifteen" you reply.

"We've covered this" she responds half glaring at you. "I'm almost sixteen and anyways why does age matter? The worlds gone to shit anyways."

You shrug. The girl had a point. "Fine you say taking her can from her, downing it and handing her yours that held a little more that half to her.  
"Happy now?"

She takes it and rises. "I'm not unhappy" she replies simply as he walks away.

You chuckle as she goes. You check out the rest of the place and seem it safe. It was getting close to dark but it didn't seem like you and Jasper could load everything needed into the car before leaving. With the window broken this place would be looted by the time you get back.

"We should stay the night here. Pack up in the morning an' collect everything tonight. We could sleep in one of the upstairs rooms and move one of the vending machines in front of the front window" Jasper proposes "People back at the camp will be worried but they won't set out until late tomorrow probably."

You nod and grab a gallon of soda and four pack of canned tuna off the shelf. "Dinner" you explain stuffing them into your pack. You and Jasper move a large soda machine in front of the window and then find a fairly clean room in the office second level. You set up a chair in front of the door knob so no one or nothing can get in.

The two of you eat in silence. The sun drops off the horizon through the window and the room's brightness fades. When you're both done eating, Jasper takes off her jacket and stretches. Her shirt pulls up to reveal her slender waist and you see writing.

"What's that?" You ask looking at her.

She turns and her shirt falls back into place. "What's what?" She asks confused.

"That. On your waist. It that a tattoo?" You ask pointing to her waist.

She pulls up her shirt to reveal the italicized writing. She smirks as she looks at it. "Oh yeah, I was kind of a rebel" she says chuckling "it says, 'dream as if you'll live forever. Life as if you'll die tomorrow'." She says.

"When'd ya get that?" You ask amused.

"I was fourteen. My mom never even knew about it, it was...after. My brother's friend was a tattoo artist. He hooked me up when I came across his parlor when I was scavenging. He couldn't really use the ink for much else anymore. I also got these stars" she says showing you a collection of five stars on the back of her hand near her pinky finger.

"I thought those were drawings" you say smirking "guess not."

She smirks. "Guess not" she confirms.

She uses her jacket as a blanket as she curls up behind a turned over table. You sigh as she rests her head on her arm and let's her eyes flicker closed. You forgot that no matter how badass she was and how good she was at breaking into places, how many tattoo's she had and how many walkers she killed, she was still just a kid.

You remove your own jacket and walk over near her. About two yards away you lay down and use your jacket as a pillow. Your hand slips into your pocket and rests on your knife as you eye your crossbow that sits right in front of you.

"Night Daryl" Jasper replies with her eyes still closed.

A small smile flickers across your face. She acted so young yet so old sometimes. "Night kid" you say before closing your own eyes.

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So Daryl and Jasper bonding? How do you like it in Daryl's POV? Next chapter is like that so I hope you like it. Meaning I already have the next chapter ready! Whoa I'm early with something! So reviews = update faster. Remember it takes hours to right and only seconds to review:)

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You are being hypnotized. You are going to click review and tell the author what you think about this chapter and story over all. You have been hypnotized and now you have to do it.

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Hypnotized.

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~Bellabear~


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone:) quick update because I...I would say because I wanted to give you a chapter, I with I do partially, but mainly it's because I suck at waiting. Anyways though, here is the next chapter, I hope you like it.**

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Daryl:

An agonized scream wakes you up in an instant. You're standing up, wielding your weapon and looking for a walker before you can even form a coherent thought. There isn't a walker though, just a fifteen year old writhing as she screams, still asleep.

"Jasper" you call moving towards her. She doesn't respond, just keeps screaming. You drop to your knees and shake her. "Wake up" you say.

She chokes on a gasp and her eyes snap open. Her breathing is labored and erratic and her eyes are wide.

"Hey now girl, shh, it's alright, you're fine, just calm down" you whisper gruffly as you set a hand on her shoulder.

She breathes in a shaky breath and tries to close her mouth but she ends up gasping for another breath.

"Bad dream?" You guess solemnly. She nods and begins to control her breathing. "S'not real" you say "what was it about?"

She sits up and brushes her arm across her face. "Just my mom, it's nothing" she says quietly.

"Alright, it's fine, you're fine. Light's up in an hour, try to get some sleep."

She nods and takes a final breath. "Sorry" she mumbles as she lays back down and you do the same four feet away.

Being so close to morning, you don't bother going back to bed. You just lay there and watch the sun come up through the broken window. You notice that she never goes to sleep either.

When it finally morning, you climb to your feet and grab your crossbow. "C'mon girl, were burnin' daylight" you call.

She rolls over and yawns, pretending to just have been asleep. She sits up and shrugs on her jacket then grabs her machete. The two of you head out and Jasper runs her hand along the wall as you walk.

"This place still has electricity" she says flipping on and off a light. "We can unlock the safety screens and drive the car right in an' load it up."

You nod. "What'd we need?" You ask as you reach the last stair.

"Food-no way!" She exclaims rushing off the stairs and to the corner of the store where she picks up a fairly new looking guitar.

She sits against the wall and runs her hands over the strings familiarly.

She smirks and strums a few times.

"You play?" You asks leaning agains the wall near her.

She nods. "I used to be in the music program for guitar and singing" she tells you.

"Play somthin'" you say.

She smirks. "I'm not sure I remember much but I'll give it a try" she says positioning the guitar right.

She starts strumming a song. You sort of remembered the song. It used to be pretty popular.

"But if you close your eyes," she sings angelically. You were shocked by how good she was. You had heard Beth sing and she was pretty good but this girl sung better than some professional singers.

"Does it almost feel like, Nothing changed at all? And if you close your eyes, Does it almost feel like, You've been here before?" She sings then stops strumming and look up at you with a half smile.

"Nice pipes" you say nodding "really."

She smiles and rises then walks with you towards the front of the store. She sets down her guitar next to an old produce stand and reminds you to not let her forget it.

"So what were you saying you needed before you freaked out over a guitar?" You ask smirking.

She scowls at you. "They're barely any left, I hadn't seen one since the whole apocalypse thing started. So yes, this is freaking out worthy." She says.

You laugh once. "Yeah, so anyways what do we need here?" You ask as you head to the front.

"Food, all that we can bring, medicine- for Maggie we'll need pain meds and pregnancy stuff." She says "We'll also need stuff for Judith, disinfectant, peroxide-"

You cut her off by pulling her behind an isle. Two heavily armed men had just pushed aside the vending machine that was covering the blocked window and they had a struggling girl with them.

"Now calm down sugar" one of the men was saying as he pulled the girl through the window. She looked to be younger than Jasper, maybe eleven. Your breath catches, she looked like Sophia. You remember when you found her, half eaten alive while she clutched her doll clutched to her. Your heart broke when you told Carol and she screamed and sobbed.

**(AN: my own version to what happened, just go with it)**

"We have to help her" Jasper whispers harshly to you.

"Calm down girl, I know, we will. Wait 'till they get a little-hey!" You whisper urgently as Jasper pushes herself away from you and runs out into the open.

She just stands there, not drawing a weapon. You know what you're supposed to do. You move silently around so you're behind the other man a little ways off and wait.

One of the men whistles. "Now what do we have here. Yer a pretty one ain't cha? What's yer name?" He asks as he approaches her.

"Courtney" she replies shakily while she secretly watches the other man move slightly away from the little girl who was on the ground looking afraid.

He gets even closer and you take aim with your crossbow and shoot at the man near the little girl. The man near Jasper spins around and when he turns to look back at Jasper, she swings a mean right hook at him and he crumples. You aim and shoot.

"Adda girl" You say chuckling. "Hell of a right hook" you say nodding. She nods back, a smirk playing on her lips, then walks over to the little girl.

She smiles comfortingly as she slowly approaches. "Hey honey. It's okay, no one is going to hurt you. What's your name?" She asks reassuringly as she drops her machete and kneels down a couple feet from the girl.

"I'm Carter" she says quietly. You stay where you are, knowing that your presence would just frighten her more. She has shoulder length red curly hair and a lightly freckled face. She is built thin and lanky but she looks doesn't look that weak.

"Hi Carter, I'm Jasper. Him over there is Daryl." She tells the child and you slowly approach but lean against a shelf and just observe.

"But you said your name was Courtney" she says questioningly.

She smiles. "You never tell them your real name" she replies. "Now do you have a camp? Do you have family or anyone?" She asks.

Carter nods. "My mom and dad. And my big sister and her son and daughter" she responds "I was looking for my cat and they grabbed me. Our camp is at an old house a couple minutes from here."

"Okay, we can take you back there okay?" She says then turns to you. "I'll take her back, you pack the things" She says.

"Hell no-" she cuts you off with a look. "Fine, you're not back in twenty minutes I'll shoot you myself" you grumble before turning.

She smiles and takes the child by the hand. "Come on. Don't worry about him, that just means he cares" she tells the kid as she walks her out.

You bring in the car and have it half filled when you hear another car outside. Wielding your weapon, you look out the window. Jasper climbs out of the car and through the window you can see the little girl.

"What the hell is this?" You ask approaching her.

"The kid's dad is a doctor" she explains. "We need a doctor for when Maggie delivers. Unless you want her to end up like Laurie."

That was a low hit but you know she's right. "Fine. How're we gonna get 'em back?" You ask.

"They'll follow us in their car and we can pack food in their car too" she says.

Overly trusting girl, they would just drive off with the food. "They'll drive off. Guarantee it" you say harshly.

She looks unaffected by the hostility. "We're taking the kid with us. They wouldn't dream of it" she replies smugly.

Maybe she wasn't so stupid. "Fine. Get 'em in here." You command. Within an hour everything that can be stuffed into the car, is. There's baby things for Judith, lots of medicine and other medical supplies, clothes and pillows and yes, Jasper's guitar.

"Okay" Jasper calls to the group that gathers outside around the cars. You cod tell she liked being the authority. "Just follow us and we'll bring you to the prison. Just one thing though, were taking the girl in our car" she says.

The other red haired woman's eyes widen. She was Carter's mother and you think her name was Jamie. "What? Why?" She asks pulling her daughter close to her.

"Don't worry. It's just insurance that you won't drive off. We won't hurt her, I just saved he an hour ago didn't I?" She reasons.

Carter looks up at her mom. "It's fine mom, Jasper's nice. I'll be okay" she reassures her mother.

"Christopher, talk to them" Jamie pleads.

The doctor looks up. "It makes sense. I trust them though, they wouldn't go through all this trouble if they were going to kill us. But Jasper" he addresses the fifteen year old "would it be alright if I joined you in your car?"

Jasper turns and looks at you. You shrug. "I think it'll be fine" she says. She spins around then when a chorus of moans sound a couple blocks away. "Alright, c'mon lets go" she says.

The ride back is quiet. You drive and Jasper sits in the shotgun. Every now and again she flashes a reassuring smile back at Carter. When you finally come into view of the prison, Rick was on watch. By the time both cars have pulled within the confines of the prison gates, everyone has gathered.

"We're back" you say getting out of the car.

"Who is all this?" Rick asks gruffly.

You shrug. "Jasper found 'em after we saved their girl. One of 'em is a doctor, she said we'd need him for when Maggie delivers" you tell him.

"Your in charge here?" Christopher asks Rick. Rick shrugs and nods. "We would like to thank you for taking us in. Things are just getting worse out there. We'll do wherever needed to earn our stay" he says honestly.

Rick nods thoughtfully. "We've got some questions for ya. First, how many walkers ya kill?" He asks.

"I'm not sure. I had to keep my family safe." He replies.

Rick nods understandingly. "What about people? How many'd you kill?" He asks.

Christopher exhales loudly. "Five. Two of them were men trying to hurt my family. Two other were..were my aunt and cousin. They turned. The last...I was a doctor at a small town that was destroyed. A man came in, he had fallen off a horse and was badly bruised and couldn't walk or move without hurting horribly. The infection had probably already spread to his organs. When the zombies came, I...he was asleep and they would've eaten him. I shot him in the head while he slept. Never woke up." he man reveals.

"Thank you. I think that you all will be fine here. We can all clear out the B-block for you all to stay in" Rick says nodding. "We might be able to clear it out for sleeping for tonight."

Christopher nods appreciatively. "Thank you very much. What you're doing is very kind. I'm Christopher, my wife is Jamie. My oldest is Alyssa, she's thirty that's her son Jonah and her daughter Anna, they're seven. My youngest is Carter, she's ten" he tells Rick.

"Nice to meet you all" Rick says heading up the hill and towards the prison with everyone else following.

The girls take up the rear of the group. "I feel bad for that woman and those girls" I hear Carter's sister, Alyssa say to Carter.

Carter looks at her confused. "What woman?" She asks curiously.

"The one on the side of the road" Alyssa says "she had really short grayish hair and she had two girls with her one blonde and one brunette. I wanted mom so slow down but she said we couldn't."

Your eyes widen. Could it be Carol, Mika and Lizzie. "Hey" you snap stalking over to Alyssa. "What woman? What girls?" You snarl.

She looks afraid. "They were on the side of the road a little ways off. The woman had grayish hair that was real short, like a boy. And the girls looked like sisters. They waved at us but mom wouldn't let us go. It was about ten minutes back." she says, her eyes wide.

"That's Carol and the girls" you say loudly. Rick turns and looks questioningly at you. "She saw Carol and the girls along the road. I'm going" you say already flinging a leg over your bike.

"Wait take the car" Rick says not even trying to stop you because he knows that you wouldn't listen. "I'll come too."

"I'm going too" Jasper says moving towards the car.

Carl hurries forward from the group and places a hand on her shoulder. "You just got back, rest a while" Carl says to her.

She shakes her head. "I'm going too" she argues, her voice hard.

"S'alright girl, go get some rest." You tell her. She doesn't look happy by she nods. The others look a little taken aback and curious about what was going in. I guess they had never seen anyone ask and answer to you before. You had to admit, it was new to you too.

Both of you set out. You drive out ten minutes, calling the whole way. Finally, after Rick has already suggested going back, the bastard, you get an answer.

"Daryl!" Carol shouts from somewhere within the woods.

Hope floods through you and you quickly pull the car to a halt and climb out. "Carol!" You shout. Finally she comes into view. Relief floods through you. She looks fine, perfectly safe. So do the girls.

"Daryl" she says running into your embrace. She pulls back and puts a protective arm around each of the girls. "Zombie apocalypse and all that's left is you and the cockroaches." She says smiling.

Shuffling and moans come from back in the brush. "C'mon, we'll talk in the car" you say.

When you get back to the car, Rick looks at Carol blankly. Only once we enter the gates of the prison, does he finally half smiles. "Welcome back Carol, Mika, Lizzie" he says.

Carol smiles back. "It's good to be back" she replies.

An hour later everyone is gathered around a bonfire. Jasper kind of surprised you by sitting next to you but you didn't mind really. You actually liked the girl. It seemed like she liked you too. It was like you had unofficially adopted her.

Carol, who sat on the other side of you, smiles. "Last time we won the prison there was singing" she says looking around the campfire, hopeful smile in place.

Beth shakes her head. "Sore throat" she says apologetically, her voice scratchy.

You look around and smirk as Jasper who was shooting you a cautious glare."This one can sing" you speak up nodding to Jasper who scowls back.

Carol smiles sweetly and Jasper's glare disappears instantly. Carol had the whole sweet motherly thing that was impossible to refuse. "Really? do you want to sweetie?" Carol asks.

Jasper shrugs and smiles at Carol. "I uses to be in the music program. I guess I will. Can I go grab my guitar I found?" She asks.

Carol nods smiling and Jasper runs off. She comes back with the instrument and sets it on her lap gently. She runs her fingers over the strings. "Sorry if I'm a little rusty" she says half smiling around the fire. The begins playing gently. You recognize the song immediately. It was 'Bless the broken road'. Damn kid.

"I set out on a narrow way, many years ago. Hoping I would find true love, along the broken road. But I got lost a time or two, wiped my brow and kept pushing through. I couldn't see how every sign, pointed straight to you" she sings angelically. People smile at each other around the fire.

"Every long lost dream, led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars. Pointing me on my way, into your loving arms. This much I know is true. That God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you" she sings drawing out the words. Carl almost glows and you feel a protective urge. Damn kid better keep his hands to himself.

"I think about the years I spent, just passing through. I'd like to have the time I lost, and give it back to you. But you just smile and take my hand, you've been there you understand. It's all part of a grander plan, that is coming true." She sings passionately. She had a hell of a nice voice.

"Now I'm just rolling home, Into my lover's arms. This much I know is true. That God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you" She sings meeting the eyes of everyone around the campfire.

"That God blessed the broken road" she sings, letting her voice drift. She looks oi to the fire and lets a small smile her features. "That led me straight to you."

-/-/-/-

Jasper:

You didn't really know why you needed to get out, you just did. Maybe it was Judith's crying that got to you, or the claustrophobia, you just needed to get out for a little bit.

You had stayed in my cell all morning, not bothering to even get dressed until now. You smile at the room. It looked a lot more like a real bedroom now. A calendar hung on the wall, you had managed to find one that had years in advance. It wasn't like there was so many events to keep track of, it was just nice to know what day it was.

Your clothes remain in your chest that sits at the foot of your bed but now your guitar leans against the wall beside it. The room was colored light green with chalk that you had found from Walmart, and you had also colored Judith's room purple. So much gray wasn't good for a little kid.

You make sure the door is fully closed, then you take off your pajamas and pull on your jeans and tank top with your black leather jacket over it. You slip your feet into your boots, slip your gun and knives into your belt and grab your machete. Ready.

You leave your small cell and walk down the stairs to the main floor. You address Daryl, who sits at the table sharpening his knives. "I'm going hunting" you say and start for the door.

"Not alone" he replies.

You sigh and turn back to him. "I'll be fine, I found Rick, Glen and Maggie when I was alone didn't I?" You ask.

He relents and shrugs. "Alright fine, you're not back by dark, I'll shoot you myself" he says going back to sharpening his knives. It's then that you notice that Rick, Carol, Carl an the newcomers were curiously watching out of the corner of their eyes. You shrug them off and walk out.

You decide to head south instead of north like usual and you think that there is a small town somewhere near there. Your beliefs hold true and within twenty minutes you see a weathered gas station, a corner store and a couple other small shops and stores. It was just a truck stop. But it was okay, you didn't need anymore than this. This was perfect.

As you walk towards it, two walkers see you and snarl as they limp towards you. You knock one back with your foot and cut off the others head. When the other one climbs to it's feet you stab it in the head and blood splatters your face. Fantastic.

It was early December now according to your calendar. Christmas would be coming soon if it weren't for the whole apocalypse thing. This store's window would've been decked out with Christmas lights and trees but now it was barren and broken. You decide that even if Christmas wouldn't include Christmas trees or coco and lights, that didn't mean you couldn't get something for everyone as a gift.

You use the butt of your knife to shatter the glass in the little window in the door. You carefully reach in and unlock the door before opening it. This town was tiny and although a few walkers were milling about, it didn't look like anyone had come across this town yet other than a single straggler or two.

No walkers are inside so you quickly close the door so as not to alert the other ones of your presence. Your eyes scan the shelves, there was mostly just tourist junk. It was just dusty knick knacks. You grab a over the shoulder bag off a hook and browse the shelves. Your eyes land on an old brown leather book. Flipping through it, you discover it's a diary. You slip it into your bag, this would be a perfect gift for Beth, and keep looking.

A shuffle in the back notifies you of something. You're on high alert immediately and you move along the wall.

"Who's there?" You call. A walker would've come right away instead of waiting in the back. This was a human. A human that seemed like they didn't want to fight. You had walked past the open doorway where the noise was coming from and whoever back there wasn't trying to kill you. They had ample chance before.

"I said, who's there?" You say louder and more commanding.

There's another clatter and a small form moves out from the room. Whoever it was had a small stature and was about five three in height. It was a girl around your age by the looks of it, maybe a little younger.

"Step forward" you command. The girl hesitantly obliges.

She had chest length maroon colored hair that fades to almost blonde at the end, making me think that her hair had once been blonde. She has big pretty hazel eyes, and an mature yet innocent looking face with smooth lightly colored cheeks. Light freckles dance across her nose and cheeks. Her lips waver slightly as she stands there. She clutches a broken and sharpened piece of wood in her hands.

"What do you want?" She asks, her voice steady. She looks frightened slightly but she stands her ground. She was defensive though, like she was protecting something. She must live in the back room. That's why this place was in order and without walkers and why the door was locked.

"Hey, don't worry I'm not going to hurt you" you say setting your machete on the floor next to you.

She berates out but doesn't relax. "That's what everyone says before they hurt you" she says eyeing you carefully.

You laugh once. "Fair point" you say with a smile. "But really, I'm your age, I'm just as lost as you are. I'm not going to hurt you" you say "Jasper Dare."

She nods and the edge of her lips pull up. She steps farther into the open. "I'm Sophia, Sophia Peletier."

* * *

**BOOM CLIFFY! Thoughts?**

**Oh and I think it was chapter two, but I did this math problem thing on what number review I would update on. And I ended up changing the number from 4 to 3, which screwed up the math problem and made me look like an idiot. So yeah, I'll probably fix that in a minute but just to let you know, that's a typo, I'm not THAT stupid, I'm THIS stupid.**

**So please leave a review, I'll update after 4 reviews:) oh and a thank you to those who have reviewed. Thanks Ill send Postcards (I love the name by the way), Captain Stoner, Guest reviewer, and random person/HelloSweetie49 (it's my friend that's trying to get me to update, and for when you're reading this you are a liesnake! DO NOT ASK. Were strange...)**

**So thank you those who have reviewed, followed, favorited and read this story! I'll update after 4 reviews and please tell me your thoughts, ideas or questions for this story! Remember it takes hours to write and only minutes to review! Love you guys! (Minus my friend...*suspicious look*).**

**~Bellabear~**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hi Sophia" you say cracking a smile. "Do you live here?" You ask.

She nods and waves her hand towards the doorway, gesturing for you to walk over. She still stands a foot or two away from you but allows you to look inside. There is a small table along the wall to the left of the door that has a few things on it including cans of vegetables, a half melted large candle and some sharpened makeshift weapons. In the corner is a pad from a chair and an assortment of mismatched pillows and blankets.

"I pull the table in front of the door at night just in case" Sophia says with a shrug. "I have some food if you're hungry, water too."

You smile thankfully. "It's alright, I have more at my camp" you say rifling though your bag "here, I have more" you say presenting her a can of mandarin oranges.

She gasps an takes them. "Thank you" she says smiling.

Thudding comes from the door. You turn and see a walker hitting itself against the door, it's dead hand reaching through the small hole in the glass window. You breath out a sigh of relief when you remember that you locked the door again after entering.

Sophia gasps and hurries into the little room. "Come on, come on" she says waving you in. You curiously oblige. She closes the door behind you. "The walkers can't see you if you stay in here. They'll forget what they're after and wonder away after a while. Were safe here" she says.

"You call them walkers too?" You ask her.

She shrugs. "Yeah, my old group I used to be with called them that and I started calling them that too. I wish we didn't have to call them anything. I wish they were never here" she says sounding scared.

You tilt your head in confusion. She was so afraid of these things. "Have...have you ever killed one of them?" You asks hesitantly.

She sits down on the edge of the table. "I've killed two of them. I had no choice. I hit them with a fire extinguisher. I scavenge from the other shops here. Did you see those three cars out there? When I scavenge, I run from car to car and hide until they run off. It's worked pretty well" she says as she take as bite of the oranges and sighs in contentment.

"It's smart" you say nodding "but you need to lean how to fight them."

She shrugs "Not if I'm smart" she says as she offers the can to you. "Want some?"

"No thanks. But listen Sophia, being smart won't always keep you safe. Believe me, I know. I play it the smart way but I still have to fight. You need to learn, and you're going to." You declare.

She looks afraid. "What? No! I'll get bit or killed" she says.

"You'll be fine. I'll be right next to you the whole time. You won't get hurt, I promise" you tell her as you open the door and retrieve your machete.

She holds back and shakes her head. "No, no please Jasper" she begs.

You pull one of your knives out of your belt and hand it to her. She accepts it unwillingly. "Now come on, I'll take care of the one at the door" you say opening the door and planting your machete in its head before it can bite you.

You roll your eyes when you see her standing back still. You grab her hand and pull her to the doorway with you. "That one" you say pointing to a walker with a limp that was a couple dozen yards away.

"Now come on, follow closely" you say whistling quietly so only the one walker starts towards you. "Okay, hold your knife like this" you say correcting the way she held the knife. "And keep your body back and stay light on your feet. Keep your arm above its mouth, and if it's too tall, go at it from the side" you I instruct.

The walker snarls and reaches forward. Sophia grips the knife tightly and looks determined. You smile, she was learning quickly. She moves out if its way as it lunges, and spins so she's facing it's back. She grips the knife and moves forward quickly with the knife clenched in her hand. In a quick movement she buries the knife up to the hilt in the back of the walker's head.

"You did it" you tell her with a grin.

Her eyes grow wide and she grins. "I did it" she says laughing.

A snarl sounds from a couple feet behind you both. You turn and see a large walker a few feet away moving towards you quickly. Sophia moves away from it, almost hiding behind you.

"It's okay, just do what I say" you say slowly as the walker approaches you both. "And, to the side!" You shout as the walker lunges. You pull away and both of you come up behind it as it tries to get up. "Okay, we're going to do the same thing again" you say as the walker climbs to its feet "and then when it's down again, you're going to kick it down in the middle of its back."

She nods shakily. "You can do this" you remind her as be walker charges. "Now!" You shout again. You both dive out of the way again and then Sophia moves to she's behind the walker. You nod at her once. She puts her foot on its back and pushes it down hard. "Good, now when it comes at you again, bring your foot up and kick its  
chest but don't let it scratch you" you tell her.

She nods and takes a step back and waits. When it is on its feet again, she kicks it hard pushing it back then moves forward and stabs it in the head.

"You learn fast" you say appraisingly as you watch her grin to herself.

She laughs. "I killed two of them!" She exclaims "I can't believe I did that."

You can't help but smile at her excitement. "Want to go pack your things and we can go?" You ask as you check over a walker for merchandise.

"Go where?" She asks confused.  
"Oh, right, I was hoping you'd come back to camp with me. We found a prison and we have twenty or so people there. Lots of resources."

She smiles. "I would love to" she says "I've been here for two years, dear god I've been bored."

You laugh. "I would be too. Hurry, go pack, the camp is only twenty or so miles away" you say.

She runs inside to pack and you kill two more walkers that come across you. On them you find an old pocket watch, a pair of dangly silver earrings and a three bottles of nail polish that was in a bag tucked in one of their jacket pockets. Sophia comes back out then, a bag slung over her shoulder and a pillowcase full of blankets and other things. You head out towards the prison together.

"So...what's your favorite food?" Sophia asks randomly a moment later.

You crack a smile. "Um, I think it would have to be pears" you say thoughtfully. "What about you?"

She grins. "Coffee ice cream, always has been, always will be" she says.

You laugh. "Okay, what's you-" you stop short and listen.

"What is it?" Sophia whispers anxiously as she looks around.

Over the trickling of the stream in front of you, you hear the familiar clumsy crunching of leaves and ghoulish moans. There was a lot of them, at least thirty of them. A herd. There was no way that you could take them all even if you had someone like Daryl with you. Especially now with Sophia who couldn't fight. You would have to protect her.

"Come on, stay quiet" you whisper back as you lead her towards the water. "They'll smell us, get the mud, cover yourself. Stay still." you tell her.

She looks disgusted but she nods. The two of you smear the mud over your arms, legs, torso and hair. You finish just in time too. The first walker bursts out of the tree line followed by the next six. You nod slightly at Sophia to keep her still as a walker walks right beside her as she lies down. Twenty or so more follow, moaning and shuffling past you and Sophia who bites her lip to stay quiet.

They finally pass and you rise to your feet. "It's okay, you did fine" you say helping her up. She nods. "Alright, come on. The camp is just another mile."

You both trudge through the forest, still covered in mud. The both of you joke about it and somehow the mud bath becomes fun. Sophia kills two more walkers and is very happy with herself. You decide that you like Sophia, she was fun to be around and once she became more skilled at killing walkers, she would be an excellent hunting partner.

You finally come across the prison. You meet Michone at the gate who laughs when she sees you both covered in mud.

"This is Sophia" you say to Michone as Carol walks out from behind the guard tower. "Hey Carol, this is Sophia, I found her on my run" you call to her "do you have anything to help us clean up?"

Carol slowly moves forward, her face a mask of terror, hope, pain and excitement. Her eye widen and her mouth opens slightly. "Sophia?" She asks in a tiny voice as she comes to stand with us.

"Momma!" Sophia exclaims running forward and throwing herself at Carol. Tears run down Carol's face and I think Sophia's too but it is burrowed in Carol's shoulder. Carol hug her fiercely despite the mud that coats Sophia's body.

Carol was Sophia's mom? You were seriously confused right now.

More people from the prison run out. "It's Sophia" Carol sobs as Everyone joins us. "My baby's back."

"I saw you body, with your doll, your clothes. You were dead" Daryl says sounding shocked.

Carol and Sophia finally pull back and Carol looks at Sophia. "Oh honey you're here" Carol sobs "oh you look so beautiful sweetheart. You're here, don't let this be a dream" she begs before hugging her again.

They finally pull away again and Sophia wipes at her eyes. She turns and sees Carl. "Carl" she says smiling and she runs to hug him as well.

"You're, you're alive?" Carl asks dumbfounded.

I feel the same that he does, confused. Not for the same reason though, you didn't know that Sophia was Carol's daughter or that she was supposed to be dead. You'd figure that out later though, for now you would just enjoy the moment.

"Jasper thank you, you brought me my baby back" Carol says hugging you tightly and rocking back and forth slightly. When she pulls away you just nod and muster a small smile. "Come on, we'll get you both cleaned up and then you can tell us your story" Carol says wiping tears from her eyes.

Someone brings a basin of water into an empty cell for you and Sophia. You grab some clothes from your cell and a pair of extra from the new Walmart supplies then return to the cell. Both of you strip down (after making a deal to stand facing the opposite walls) and wash off the mud. You dry off with small hand towels but at least you get towels. You then dress in your other pair of clothes and Sophia in a fresh pair of jeans and a purple tee shirt. You let Alyssa, Carter's big sister, take the dirty clothes and go wash them.

You all end up sitting in the main area in the prison while Sophia tells her story. "So after I ran, I found this little church and this little girl inside. Well she was about my age. She was crying and her clothes were torn so I gave her my shirt, because I had an undershirt on, and my doll to calm her down. We had to run later on and she said she saw her mom and ran in the other direction. There were walkers and I couldn't go after her. I went back later on and saw her dead then I ran off. I guess she's the one Daryl found" she says smiling apologetically at Daryl.

Daryl looks up from next to me gruffly. "I'm sorry, it looked like-it looked like you were dead." He says looking back down.

"I don't blame you Daryl" Sophia says. "I would've thought the same thing. It looked exactly like me, the eyes were turned, the clothes and doll were mine and she was my age."

Carol, who was sitting beside Sophia, wraps her arms around her and hugs her. "I don't blame you either Daryl. I would've thought the same thing and she's mine. Please don't feel bad" she says.

Daryl nods once and looks back down. Sophia continues her story.

"There were a lot of walkers in the area after that so I kept going parallel to the road until I found the little truck stop town. I stayed in a corner store and kept quiet and scavenged from the other stores. I was too scared if run into another herd like I did when I first tried to leave. I stayed there until Jasper found me. I only had to kill two of them but then Jasper taught me how and today I killed four" she says smiling.

Carol holds her and wipes away a few more tears. "I'm so proud of you sweetie" she says. She looks at Daryl's down cast face and laughs through the tears. "These are tears of joy dummie, now stop being a baby about this" she says.

Daryl musters an apologetic smile. "It's not your fault" you whisper to him. He keeps your head down but eyes you. "Really Daryl, she's fine now. If she heard you calling then she might've tried to come after you and run into the herd of walkers. She could've died if anyone did anything different. But she's alive now."

* * *

_So yeah. Sophia's alive. Please let me know any thoughts, ideas or comments because it would help me update faster and write better! Reviews=magic. Obviously. Thanks for reading and also my new reader who reviewed, thanks:) (I'm too lazy to look up your name-sorry!:) _

_~Bellabear~_


	7. Chapter 7

Jasper:

It had been four days since Sophia's arrival. Carol kept thanking you extensively whenever she saw you and kept giving you hugs. Daryl started looking better after you talked to him that night. The whole grouwp had a slightly happier air to them all. From what you had gathered, Sophia's 'death' had occurred long ago but the loss had stuck with everyone.

Sophia was fitting in, or rather fitting back in rather well. Carol was being clingy though but she had good reason. Sophia ended up taking the cell a few down from you on the top since there weren't any left on the bottom. You helped her color her wall with yellow chalk and set up her few belongings. She had her cot that Daryl fixed for her (since the single beds were made from breaking the bunk beds) with the array of mix matched blankets she had collected. And someone had built her a lopsided table out of scrap materials that now held her half melted candle.

You liked Sophia. She was a little squeamish and afraid, but that was just because of her circumstances. She would toughen up soon enough. It was strange having a girl for a friend. Beth and Maggie were different, they were older and sometimes you think they just added you in to be nice. Sophia was your age and seemed to generally like you. Growing up though you had mainly guy friends. It was strange but you kind of liked it.

"How do you do it?" Sophia asked you as she set a card on the middle of the stack that rested on the middle of your bed. You were playing uno, one of the few card games you both knew.

Your brow knits in confusion. "Do what?" You ask as you place your own card down.

"Not be afraid" she clarifies as she looks at her stack. "I mean, everyone's afraid of these things but you don't let it affect you. How?"

You shrug. "I don't do anything really. I'm most definitely not not afraid. I mean I'm definitely afraid. You just have to fight, and fight damn hard to survive. They're just another obstacle to overcome."

She smiles and laughs once. "You're kind of my idol right now" she says laughing again.

Your raise your eyebrows in shock. "Really? Why?" You ask.

She shrugs and blushes. "I mean, your like a total badass, and a quotable one at that. Plus there isn't really many people that can be my idol at this point and I think that you win out over Daryl" as giggles and you laugh too.

"Well I am honored" you say in a fancy formal sounding voice.

She laughs. "What is it with you and Daryl anyways? What connection do you have to him? It's like he's your dad or something" she says.

You have to hold back a laugh. If she only knew. "Not sure really. Were really alike I guess, I even have a crossbow back at my house somewhere in my attic and I used to know how to shoot. I just remembered about the crossbow today actually. But uh, he's kind of just been looking out for me. I figured someone might start doing that, you know since I didn't have anyone." You say half smiling.

"That's sweet. I always knew Daryl was a big sweetie underneath all that..." She trails off biting her lip and blushing as she tries to come up with a word to describe Daryl.

You are amused but decide to end her suffering. "All that redneck" you supply.

She laughs. "Yeah. I didn't want to offend you" she says.

"I'm not offended at all. He's the purest redneck I've ever met" you say laughing.

Sophia laughs too. "Sophia!" Carols voice calls from below "Jasper!" You both walk out of my cell and look down at Carol over the edge. Carol practically glows.

"I made some soup, you girls want any?" She asks smiling.

"Sure, thanks""Thank god I'm starving" both of you chorus as you climb down the stairs.

Carol chuckles and moves over a large pot over to the metal table. "Mika, Lizzie! Lunch!" She shouts. You see the girls appear from the cell on the top the opposite end as you. They had kept their bunk bed and decided to share the room.

"Daryl found me a deer. He claimed half of it but he gave me the other half for stew. I found some herbs too and added them, as well as some water and roots" she says and laughs when she sees the look of distaste on all of your faces, including Mika and Lizzie who had joined you. "Oh come on, people used to eat it all the time. Just try it you big babies."

You laugh and Carol pours spoonfuls of the soup into five styrofoam bowls. We didn't have luxury of fine china so we made do with styrofoam plates and bowls and plastic utensils. You eye her suspiciously before taking a sip of the soup. It's surprisingly good.

You're about to tell Carol just that when Sophia beats you to it. "Wow mom, this is actually good" she says taking another bite. You nod in agreement and Mika and Lizzie nod as well.

"Well thank you" Carol says smiling as she wipes off the ladle. "With all the men out there hunting around and checking out what's left of Woodbury, I'm out of things to do" she says as she sits down herself.

"Why won't they let the women go?" You ask.

She sighs. "As much as I don't care for it, it's one of those women and children stay behind things. Only us, the new ones minus Christopher, and Carl are here. He's on watch or something pouting about Michone getting to go and not him" she says laughing.

"I wouldn't want to go!" Mika says "it's scary out there."

Lizzie shrugs. "It's not scary, they're just different" she says casually taking another bite of her soup. Well that was a different perspective. And a scary one. "Plus I would want to go back to Woodbury. I left some old dolls in the garden there."

"Well you should ask one of the men to get it for you next time they pass by there" Carol suggests with a small smile getting the conversation back to a less disturbed topic.

"Okay, thanks" Lizzie replies smiling at Carol. "I think I'll ask Christopher. His wife is really nice and said that if either Mika or I needed anything to ask."

Mika grins and nods. "She is really nice. So is Alyssa, that's Carter's big sister. Carter's ten too, so now Lizzie and I have someone else to play with" she says.

"That's really great" Sophia adds smiling."Do you want to go outside and play now"?"

The girls smile and agree. Apparently their version of fun way talking to the walkers like they were people and giving them names. It unsettled you.

"I'm Sophia, we haven't really met. It's nice to meet you" Sophia says after a moment. She had been waving, smiling and talking to the walkers as well to please the little girls.

Mika and Lizzie smile at her. "You too" Lizzie says.

"Do you like it here? It may be a little dreary but it's safe" Sophia says kindly. She was good with kids, You weren't. You were alright with Alice before, but you really weren't that great of a big sister but for some reason she still loved and adored you.

"I like it here" Mika speaks up. "Everyone's nice and there's always food and I'm not scared when I go to sleep."

Lizzy looks at Mika out of the corner of her eye. She doesn't look happy. "I told you, they're just different. How would you like it if everyone hid from you and hurt you because you were different? Stop being so mean" she snaps before moving a few feet down and talking to another walker. Sophia hurries after her.

You look questioningly at Mika. She looks sad and shrugs. "I don't mean to be mean. The walkers just scare me. I like different people just...not them. They try to hurt me. One tried to bite me and I had to shoot it. Lizzie screamed at me then didn't talk to me for a week. I don't try to be mean." she says looking down.

You hurry to her and kneel down in from of her so you're eye level. "Mika, no. You're doing everything right. Lizzie doesn't see the walkers right, you do. The walkers, their brains shut down and they just want to feed. There isn't a person in there anymore. Don't listen to her" you say looking Mika in the eye.

She nods seriously. The corner of your lips quirk up. "Okay, good girl. I'm going to go up to the guard tower, stay with Sophia" you say rising to your feet an smiling at her once more before turning and heading towards the guard tower. You climb up the stairs quickly and open the door to see Carl sitting on the counter looking out the window. Silently, you shut the door and sit in the middle of the room.

You purposely make a little noise and Carl turns. He half yells when he sees you. You just grin wildly in return. "How'd you get in here so quietly?" He asks still breathing loudly.

You laugh then make your face serious. "I'm batman" you whisper loudly breaking into a grin. He laughs with you. "So whatcha doing" you ask coming to sit beside him on the counter with your legs crossed over each other.

"On watch" he replies "it's not very exciting. Want to help?"

You fake excitement, "Oh yeah sure! Let me just snap my neck first!" You say wide eyed.

He laughs and pushes your arm playfully. "Smartass" he says grinning. "But come on please, I'm bored" he begs.

You shrug. "Oh I don't know, it seems a lot less exciting than talking to Stefan, or as you may know him, the walker with only one arm and no eyes" you say looking down to where Lizzie was laughing joyously at a walker.

"Yeah" Carl sighs looking at Lizzie. "She's never seen them right, she just thinks they got sick and became...different. She understands that we have to protect ourselves from them but she still thinks they're just people."

You nod. "Carol told me about when she was with them and they found a little house to stay in for a while. Carol saw Lizzie playing tag with a walker. She had to run out and kill it and Lizzie screamed and cried about her killing her friend. To calm her down Mika always had her look at flowers and breathe deeply" you tell Carl, turning away from Lizzie down below and back to look at him.

"She needs to learn about them. She needs to know that they kill people and they would kill her. She thinks that they just want her to be like them" he says looking back out the window.

"It's kind of terrifying" you say. He nods in agreement. "But I guess just about everything is these days huh?"

He smiles sadly. "Everything is terrifying...including you" he says breaking into a laugh.

You stand up and grin then pull out your knife, flipping it around your finger then dropping it. "I meant to do that" you say simply before snatching it off the ground.

Carl laughs. "The most terrifying beast of them all" he remarks rolling his eyes.

You pocket the knife, roll your eyes and sit back on the counter beside him. You look down at the zombies below. "Oh walkers, that's new" you say sarcastically. Carl snorts. "So how's your pouting going? So sad that little Carl can't go with the men on a run" you tease.

"Hey" he complains "it's boring here and I have absolutely no interest in washing clothes or making stew...no offense."

"Ha, none taken. I don't want to do that shit either. That's why I'm out here. You should be proud sherif, you're more favorable than changing Judith's diapers" you say cracking a smile.

He raises his eyebrow. "Sherif?" He questions.

You reach forward and tap his hat before taking it and playing it on your own head and smirking. "Sherif. And there's a new one in town now. Me" you proclaim grinning as you jump off the table and leap away from Carl as he tries to snatch the hat back from you.

"Ah ah ah" you chide him playfully  
"I'm the sherif, no stealin' from me!"

He relents and stands there looking amused at you. "Come on, please? I got that after I got shot" he says.

Your eyes go wide. "You got shot? Cool! What happened?" You ask excitedly.

He plucks the hat off your head while you glower at him. "I was twelve, I think, and we were in the woods near a farm. There was this deer and I was standing real close to it, and a hunter shot right through it and into my chest. Hurt like hell" he says.

"Awesome" you say grinning.

He scoffs but he's smiling too. "Glad to know you're so concerned about my wellness" he says jokingly.

"Top priority" you declare proudly.

He chuckles "What do you miss most about the old world anyways?" You ask.

He knits his brow as he thinks. "Uh, I think swimming at the pool near my house" he says nodding.

You grin. "Then I have an idea" you declare, your eyes sparkling deviously.

"What?" He asks slowly sounding confused.

"Oh, you'll see. And I promise, one hundred percent, that we'll get into lots of trouble."

"Promise?"

You grin deviously. "Let's go" you say grabbing his forearm and pulling him towards the exit. You run down the stairs and out to the gate, not bothering to get your weapons because you already have them on you. You see Daryl at the peak of the hill looking down at you ad Carl suspiciously.

"Byeeee Darylllllll!" You call out to him joyfully as you lock the gate behind you and run off with Carl at your heels.

"You know he's going to strangle you when we get back right?" He asks laughing as the two of you pause at the tree line. The six or so walkers from the gate stumble after you but they're too far away to worry about them right now.

You laugh and scoff. "Oh I'm never going back" you say half serious, your eyes twinkling evilly "Come on!"

He runs after you. The two of you run for a solid five minutes before stopping to gasp for breath. "Where are we going?" Carl asks breathily.

"Somewhere fun!" You reply smiling through your labored breathing. You take off again and a moment later you come into a small clearing you found early on.

"A pond?" Carl asks looking at the body of water before him.

It was a little more than a pond, it did have a waterfall! The little waterfall was about four feet higher than the little pond, perfect for jumping. The water was clear enough to see the six feet below bottom, so you knew it was safe. Reeds dominated the shoreline and the water looked a little dirty...but hey, this was the apocalypse. You would take what you could get.

"Don't say it like that, it's awesome!" You say happily as you drop your bag on the edge of the little waterfall, cross your arms and pull off your shirt.

You were going to swim, but you sure as hell weren't going to get your clothes wet. You were comfortable in just your bra and underwear anyways. They were both black and not see through, so you were fine. You never got the big deference between bra and underwear and a bikini anyways. You even had a sports bra on. It was innocent enough, plus it's not like there were many options nowadays.

"What are you doing?" Carl asks hesitantly as he blushes furiously and tries his damnedest to not look at you.

You roll your eyes. "Stop being such a baby! It's just like a bikini" you say pulling down your shorts and stepping out of them. You tuck your knife in the waistband of your underwear just in case though.

"Is that a tattoo?" Carl asks curiously finally peering at you.

You chuckle to yourself. "Hell yeah it is! My brothers friend did it, it was after, you know the whole apocalypse thing. I got these stars too" you say showing Carl your had where five stars were near your pinky finger on the back of your hand. "I figured why not, you know? It was my only chance, probably the only one I'll ever get. I don't regret it."

"It's pretty badass" Carl remarks nodding impressed.

You smirk. "It's not an accident. Now come on! You swimming or not?"

He finally pulls off his shirt and jeans and walks slowly into the water. You had other ideas. With a laugh you leap off the little cliff and launch yourself into the water, landing in a huge splash. When you surface, you're grinning like a maniac at a now drenched Carl.

"You're acting like a five year old on a sugar high" Carl says laughing as he wipes water off his face.

"The world needs more five year olds on sugar highs!" You shout smiling as you swim closer towards him.

He rolls his eyes and goes farther into the water. "How'd you find this place anyways?" He asks.

"When Sophia and I were on the way back, a horde came through. Sophia...well she doesn't fight. We ended up covering ourselves in mud so-" you stop when mud splatters on the back of your head.

You turn around slowly to the sight of Carl with a guilty look and a muddy hand. "Like that?" He asks innocently.

You smile pleasantly as you scoop up a handful of mud from the pond bottom. "No" you say drawing out the word. Then all at once you step forward and launch the mud at him. "More like this!"

Before you know it, you're in a full on mud fight with Carl. You're both running and ducking and launching mud at each other as you laugh. You're sitting on the shore beside Carl as he lays on the ground, having had slipped (it was insanely hilarious), when Daryl bursts into the clearing.

You wipe mud from your forehead but just end up smearing it. "Uh, hey Daryl" you say after a second as you try your best to put on a good innocent face.

Carl sits up and looks at Daryl with a tiny apologetic smile. "I heard screamin'" Daryl explains gruffly as he narrows his eyes at Carl.

"We were having a, uh, mud fight" you explain innocently flashing a smile at him.

Daryl shifts his glare up to your face then back down to Carl. The corner of your mouth lifts up a little an you lean towards Carl. "I promised you we'd get into a lot of trouble" you whisper.

Because you didn't break your promises. Ever.

* * *

_You have probably noticed the next title, summary, and picture. Or just the title if your on you phone. The change of the title is from the song "The Show" and personally I like the cover by Vazquez. The change in summary is because the old one didn't really tell anything about the story. And the change in picture is because I think it's better if Jasper's appearance isn't shown. The girl in it before didn't look like my vision of her anyways._

_I'm also editing the first chapter a little to make Carl more in character and less OOC. So that will be edited by the time I post this, so check it out if you want. Sorry that I've been gone for a bit, summer has just begun for me and I've been hanging out with my pack:) I will update after 5 WHOLE FREAKING REVIEWS, WHY AM I IN CAPS, okay better. Please let me know what you think about the story because if you want something to happen or. to to happen. YOU HAVE TO TELL ME, IM IN CAPS AGAIN, WHY? Okay I'm good._

_Until then, stay weird:)_

_~Bellabear~_


	8. Chapter 8

Ok

Everything was too quiet. No chirping of birds, no buzzing of insects, nothing. The only sound heard was the thick crunching of fallen leaves and sticks under you, Carl and Daryl's feet. Yours were the lightest of course. Carl's footfalls were clumsy and Daryl, while an excellent hunter and tracker, stomped through the forest as if he were trying to make as much noise as possible.

You run your fingers through your still wet hair, combing out the multiple knots. When wet, it hung to just below your chest and was almost the color of chocolate rather that its normal bronze color. The water dripped down onto your exposed shoulder and ran down your arm until it dripped off the tips of your fingers. Most of the mud that had coated both you and Carl was washed free of your bodies leaving you clean for the most part.

Your jean shorts are on and the pond water from your underwear seeps through the worn denim. Your shirt is still in your hands and the water from your bra trickles down over your exposed stomach. It wasn't like it was so revealing. There was a sports bra over your real bra curtsy of traveling light. It was even more concealing than normal bikinis. That's why you didn't know what the big deal was and why Daryl seemed so angry.

You were pretty sure he told you and Carl you could remain partially undressed to "dry" was just so he could walk the two of you back to the prison looking like this to cause a stir. You really weren't doing anything like that, you were just swimming and having a mud fight. Innocent, yes. Childish, very.

Both Daryl and Rick were the ones that wanted you and Carl to start acting like kids more and stop worrying. Like that was possible. Either way though, to you, swimming and having a mud fight seemed to fall in the category of childhood. And Carl's shift for watching was over when you left, you could already see Maggie walking towards the guard tower to take over.

From where you walk behind the hillbilly in question, you spare a glance back at Carl behind you. He looks up from the ground and smirks at you, barely holding back laughter. You can't help the similar look that flashes across your face as well. It was a part of the thrill of being caught for something. Knowing you did something wrong yet being old enough to laugh and curse about it when the adults weren't looking.

Your gaze flickers down to Carl's bare chest for a moment before you turn back around. You hadn't really noticed before… but Carl was kind of really strong looking. He didn't look to bad in the other departments either. How could you've not noticed how hot, ahem, attractive your best friend was? It shouldn't, didn't matter anyways because this was the apocalypse. You made the best of everything so why was admitting you liked Carl such a big deal to you? Right, you couldn't grow attached. You were starting to really hate your own rules.

Daryl throws a suspicious look in your and Carl's direction before marching off farther into the woods to take care of two walkers that had stumbled upon you. Carl takes this chance to jog forward a step and match your pace so he is walking beside you.

You can't hold back a snicker any longer. You clap your hand over your mouth and worriedly look out for Daryl who was obscured behind some trees. Carl laughs too but muffles it with his arm.

"Were going to be in deep shit when we get back, you know that right?" you whisper, your voice thick with laughter. He nods as he holds back another laugh. "Not for just running off. Not to make things awkward or anything, but you know what that looked like right?" you ask looking up at him and snickering to cover up your blush "Your dad's going to completely unhinge."

Carl is about to say something when you hear the sound of two corpses hitting the ground. You rapidly tap Carl's arm and he falls back to a step behind you where he was before. Daryl grumbles something at the both of you then resumes the head of the line and walks on with you both following.

When the guard tower finally comes into view, you see Sophia, who was still out front with the children, quickly herd the kids back towards the cell blocks when she sees you all coming. Smart girl. As you all walk towards the gate, Daryl just walks casually as he shoots any walkers who approach you. It was the scary, quiet kind of mad.

Before you reach the gate, Rick, Maggie, Glen, Carol, and Sophia have gathered at the gate. Just as you had predicted, Rick is seething. The moment you and Carl get inside the gate and it closes behind you, Rick goes off.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouts furiously, his southern Georgia accent thick and his eyes wild as he pushes Carl back so his back is against the gate.

Carl pushes Rick's hands away angrily. "We weren't doing anything! We were just swimming" he growls "You were the one that wanted us to act like kids, and when we do, were criminals!"

Ricks eyes still look like they could melt someone if he stared at them for too long, but he doesn't look like he is about to strangle Carl anymore. You can almost see the realization dawning in his eyes as he takes in both of your dripping figures. He moves half a step back but still stares Carl down. "Want to explain the absence of clothes?" he growls.

"Do you usually swim with your clothes on?" You finally snap from behind Rick. You had enough of his crap. Just because you were a teenager, you couldn't have a second to explain?

He wheels on you then pulls back and adverts his gaze from your body. You roll your eyes. Really people, come on! It was just a sports bra! It's not like you were wearing lingerie to swim in a damn pond. Rick looks back at you then, or more specifically your tattoo on your side.

"Is that a tattoo?" he questions. Why was it such a big deal for you to have a tattoo? The others in the group that stand watching register shock on their faces.

You roll your eyes. "Yes! Yes, I have a tattoo. But when other people have killed time and time again, I think a tattoo isn't grounds for the sheriff to start shooting" you say exasperated as you pull on your shirt over your head.

"Nothing happened. Back off" Carl growls before walking away angrily, but not before taking your arm gingerly and pulling you with him.

You're both barely inside the cell block before bursting into laughter once more. "Oh god, I know that we shouldn't be laughing, but I can't help it" you laugh.

"And god that was awkward" he adds on, laughing as well.

You nod in agreement. "Hell yeah it was. What I said out there, I thought I only said it in my head! I almost did a double take when I realized everyone else heard me. I'm just going to blank all that from my memory, okay?" you ask hopefully.

"Right there with you" he agrees.

Then the two of you go your separate ways, knowing that hanging out right now wasn't the best course of action given the circumstances. You slowly push open your cell door and flop onto your bed tiredly. It had been a hell of a day.

From where you lay on your bed, you look around the little cell that was your "bedroom". Your bed had a pillow and two scraps of clothes that were your blanket. Carol said that if anyone could find her any yarn, she would make you, and whoever else needed a blanket, a new quilt. There might be done in the Walmart haul but she hadn't gotten a chance to look. Carol was your stereotypic mother, except for her expert reasoning and willingness to do whatever it took to keep the ones she loves safe. You definitely liked Carol.

The wall of your cell was colored a light green, curtsy of Walmart chalk. A small chest Glen made you with discarded wood sat at the foot of your bed. It contained your two extra pairs of clothes (not counting the clothes you were wearing) as well as the picture of Daryl buried far under your tank top and sweat shorts that served at your pajamas and your other outfit. You had given one of your five outfits to Beth, then another to Sophia and your other was your pajamas.

Your leather jacket and your letterman jacket that was your brothers hang on the bed post by your head and on the wall beside your bed was the picture of Alice, Cole, your brother, and you smiling, and the calendar. Beside your bed, your pair of red converse were set to the side and your guitar rested beside them. And that was all you owned as of now besides some small things you found.

A quiet knock sounds at your cracked open cell door. You're about to snap at whoever it is because, as you had previously displayed, you weren't in the mood. Your mind catches up, and you realize that it's Carols voice and she doesn't sound upset.

"Come in" you relent.

She opens the door wider and steps inside before pushing it back where it was before. You pull yourself back up into a sitting position so you're leaning against the corner. She smilies softly and sits on the edge of the bed.

"Hey" she says softly. "Rick's still on a war path. I'd hole up here for at least another two hours if I were you."

"Thanks" you reply with a small chuckle, now less suspicious of her presence.

She crosses her hands in her lap and taps her foot against the ground. She definitely wanted to talk to you about something. "First" she says slightly sternly turning to look at you "That was not polite lot there, but Rick was wrong to accuse you immediately. When he does apologize, which he will with or without my making him, I want you to apologize too."

"Yes ma'am" you reply.

She smiles. "Now what did happen down there?"

You manage a smile. "We just went for a swim. I wasn't getting my clothes wet so I stripped to my sports bra and underwear, which were totally covering. It's just like a bathing suit. We just swam around and ended up getting into a mud fight" you snicker but you're blushing hard "I won by the way. But that's when Daryl came an' Daryl ain't one to ask questions."

Carol laughs. "No he ain't" she agrees. You see the glow that surrounds her when she is around him, or thinks or talks about him. She had a twinkle in her eye and the daydreamy smile lifting up the corners of her mouth. She loved Daryl, very much.

"You love him." It wasn't an accusation, just an innocent statement. Carol loved Daryl, your father. Love was a rare thing, and so was finding your dad. You were honored to have Carol love him.

Carol obviously didn't feel quite the same was about the matter. "What? Sweat pea, why would you ask that?" She asks.

You can help but grin at the slightly desperate woman. "It's okay that you do, he's a really good guy. He loves you too, you know. I see the way he looks at you, talks to you. Trust me, I know" you tell her honestly.

"I-I...how...is it that obvious?" She finally manages to get out.

You smile. "No, don't worry, it's not. I'm just really good at reading people. Everyone else just thinks there's a little tension between you two."

She blinks rapidly and let's her hand fall. She shakes her head then looks back at you and cracks a smile. "Thank you Jasper. But the point of me in here...um someone came here today."

Your eyes grow wide. "What? Who? Are they still here?"

She shakes her head. "It was some kind of...postman? He didn't say much. Glen was on guard and all the man told him was that he was a hired letter carrier from a northern camp. He ran off then and hasn't returned" she tells you.

"Postman?" You question.

She nods and pulls out a newly folded paper from her pocket. She holds it's out to you. "Sorry it's a little crumpled. But he said it was for you."

"For me?" You ask as you take the letter and stare at the familiarly scrawled words on the outside of the rough fabric.

She smiles and stands up, but rubs her hand on your shoulder comfortingly before she starts walking away. She pauses by the door. "On the cover, it says 'from Cole' that's your brother, ain't it?"

* * *

Mwahahaha cliff hanger! You have to review if you want to know what happens next! aww I'm so evil;) Oh I wanted to say the music that I'm into now, because I must pass on the amazing sounds of awesomeness!

Almost all The Script songs because they're amazing. Linkin Park, In The End. Daughtry, Waiting for Superman, Baptized, Outta My Head and Renegade. Alex Clare, Too Close. So yeah there's your look into my earbuds. I'm listening to them now.

So yeah, please leave a review and let me know what you think! Not that I don't love reviews saying I love it or stuff like that because I really do, but I want to know your thoughts about it too. But yeah so more reviews = faster review! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

-Life is a Maze, And Love is a Riddle-

The unopened letter rests delicately on your hands. The moment Carol said it was from your brother, it because your most precious thing. Even breathing around it felt too dangerous. You wanted to read it so badly, it was from your brother after all. You had thought he was dead for the last two years. But you were wrong.

Carol is about to leave but you stop her. "Carol. Wait come here" you say rapidly patting the spot she left. She looks confused but she obliges. "Um, I have dyslexia, could you read it for me please?"

Carol nods and you delicately slip your finger under the seal and pull out the folded sheet of paper like it was gold. You hand it to her.

She clears her throat and begins. "_Dear Jaz, you probably didn't think you'd be hearing from me. I am more than glad to make you wrong yet again little sister. If you're reading this, it means you're alive. So, great for you_!" She reads snorting at your brothers idiocy. That was definitely him.

"_I have come across a small safe town somewhere in eastern Tennessee. It's fairly safe here and it's taken a lot of time moving around to get here. That's why I haven't been able to contact you. I would've come myself to find you but...well Jaz, you have another sister. I'm with the best girl, her name's Zoey. I found her about a year in to the whole end of the world thing. I love her, Jaz._

_And now for the third major shocker of the letter, you're also going to be an aunt. Zoey's pregnant. She's about eight and a half months along, that's why it was so amazing to find this safe place. We're trying to find someone to marry us but, they're kind of hard to come by_" Carol reads. She glances over at you and smiles excitedly before looking back at the paper.

"_Anyways though, there are bounty hunter/mailmen type people here that you can rent. I saved up and got one to deliver this letter to you. He's supposed to go to the house first, and if you're not there he follows clues and such. Knowing you, you would've left a VERY detailed note on where you were going behind. So if he did his job right, you will have this letter._

_Maybe after your niece or nephew is old enough, we can come to you. Or if you need a place, just write the word and you'll be here before the baby us born. Two days exactly from the time you get this letter, he's supposed to return to bring a letter back. If you need to leave, tell him and he'll bring you back with him (for double the price, but you're Jaz and my idiot sister so I'll have to do that for you)._

_Write back, that is a command that I will enforce with all my big brother godly powers." Carol laughed "And being the amazing brother I am, I'll try to read it no matter how horrible your dyslectic handwriting is. Cole_." Carol finishes looking up at you.

"He's okay" you breath out insanely relieved.

Carol wraps an arm around you and gives you a hug. "I'll help you write back, if you want" she offers kindly.

"Sure, thanks" you agree. "I'll go ask Beth if she can spare some paper from her diary" you say as Carol removes her arm and you slip out of the cell and jogging towards Beth's room. Beth, ever the nice one of the group, gives you two sheets of paper and let's you borrow her pencil. You renter your cell, hand Carol the materials then sit back beside her.

"Okay" she says as she holds the paper against the wall in preparation of writing. "I'm assuming 'Dear Cole' is first?" She asks and you nod. "Okay, what next?"

You're about to speak when a thought hits you. You needed to tell Cole about Daryl. That meant you had to tell Carol. You trust her though. "Um Carol?" You ask and she looks at you questioningly "I kinda have something to show you" you say reaching into your wooden box and finally grabbing the picture of Daryl with the writing on the back.

You hand it to Carol and watch as she looks at the picture, her face conveying her confusion, then her shock as she reads what you know is scrawled on the back of the photograph. 'Jasper, this is your father. His name is Daryl Dixon, he's a good man.'

Carol gasps as she looks back at you, eyes wide. "Is it true?" She asks after she finally gets over her shock.

You blush and shrug. "They dated a little a long time ago. I didn't find him until Carl and I picked him up on the side of the road on the way here. It's true though, my mom did a test and gave me that when I was twelve."

"I don't know how I didn't see it before. The way you walk and stand and just are. Your face too, and you have his eyes. You both have the thing how you can be surrounded by people you care about and care about you, yet you're still by yourself. And your sarcasm sure is from him" she muses with a small smile.

You smile back mostly out of politeness. Carol says you should start on the letter but you can see she's still thinking about the bomb that you dropped. You realize that you don't actually know what to write back to your brother. It takes you almost twenty minutes to get all your thoughts together and on the paper with Carols help. When you're finally done, Carol reads you the letter.

"_Dear Cole_," she begins.

"_I'm alive and yes that is great for me. We didn't know where you were, god I hate but love you bro, seriously, do you know how worried you made us all? I'm okay, I'm safe where I am. I'm at this prison with a big group of really good people. Maggie and her husband Glen are expecting in a couple months and we have a doctor and supplies for delivering if you need help. The prison is in northern Georgia, not too far and I'm sure you could find it. There are signs along the main roads if you need help finding it._

_Mom is dead. I'm sorry Cole. She got sick and turned. She's still out there somewhere, I couldn't shoot her, I'm so sorry. Alice went with her dad to a safe camp in the north. Joe said it was safe and I let him take the two passes and take her. It's was never just me though, but I found more people, I was never alone._

_I really wish you'd come here. There are really good people here, it's safe, we have weapons and food and medical supplies. Remember when mom gave me a picture of my dad? I found him Cole. He doesn't know, but I think he likes me. He's kind of taken me under his wing so to speak, or write. That's why I want to stay here, I don't want to tell him yet, or maybe ever, but I want to stay with him. I just wish you'd come here._

_I'm safe here though if you can't come for a while. I'll just wait for your next letter and I'll see what you think of this all. So big brother, as always, you're an idiot. Jasper_." She finishes.

* * *

Some shout outs, and thank you's to everyone!

fluffykitty12  
Elizabeth1401  
SadisticKittenPoet911  
Idontknowmyname  
TikiGames  
Themanwithnohead  
Fangirlnodoubt  
Captian Stoner  
I'll Send Postcards: I just want to say that I REALLY love your name:)

WalkingDeadFan: Hello! It was really hard at first with the second person thing, when I stopped writing and came back to it, I would write 'me' and 'I', so that's where that comes from. It also messes me up because I have I think 6 other stories in progress, all in first person. Thanks for reviewing:)

Guest (the one that wanted Carl and Jasper to do it): I want to start out saying that I absolutely love the terms you used! I was actually at the mall with my friend when my phone buzzed (it does that when I have an email) and we could not stop laughing! For those who haven't seen her/his (?) review, her terms were: sexual salsa, horizontal tango, frick frack, pole hole. Love them so much. I actually wanted that to happen, but it seemed a bit to OOC and they're both only 15, almost 16. I know that happens in the real world nowadays, let alone the apocalypse, so that's totally justified, but no yet is all I'm saying. Maybe in a sequel if I end up writing one (I'm a total planner). Thanks for reviewing and making me laugh:)

Ari13: Deliciously evil...I like that. Mind if I use it? I'm not that much of a Caryl fan either, but in a lot of Carl/OC stories (they're pretty much the only WD stories I real) they're a background couple. And I guess it's kind of grown on me so I'm making them a background couple here too. But it's more for the reason of Jasper having a mini family: Daryl-dad, Carol-mom, Sophia- sister= little family. Cole is her brother, no governor here, but you've read the explanation in the story now and don't need that explained, do you. Thanks for reviewing!

* * *

Really short chapter, but the next chunk I was going to add in to make it longer is was better as a beginning. What do you all think about the letter from her brother Cole? Do you think she'll get a return letter? And from Cole's letter, do you like his personality and the relationship Jasper and him have? Please let me know what you think a d what you want or don't want to happen! If you tell me then you're going to probably get the story you want!

I want to thank you all for all my reviews and favorites an follows and all that other good stuff. The more reviews, the faster I update, it's down to a science. Internet hugs for all, see you soon:)

~Bellabear~


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